Meeting For A Moment

By krishnasmercy on February 11, 2026 • ( 0 )

“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.” (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 22.54)

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‘साधु-सङ्ग’, ‘साधु-सङ्ग’ — सर्व-शास्त्रे कय
लव-मात्र साधु-सङ्गे सर्व-सिद्धि हय

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

“I know you will pin the blame on me. Perhaps it is deserved. This is another indication of my lack of resolve, about not being satisfied in my own service. I believe those are the exact words used in the Krishna book to describe Rukmini Devi. The contrast point was a gift that another queen received. Rukmini was not jealous. She was simply satisfied in her service to Krishna, who is her husband.”

“Krishna had experienced that when Rukmini was offered a parijata flower by Narada Muni, Satyabhama had become envious of her co-wife and had immediately demanded a similar flower from Krishna. In fact, she could not be pacified until she was promised the whole tree. That was actually done by Krishna; the tree was brought down to the earth planet from the heavenly kingdom. After this episode, Krishna expected that because Satyabhama had been rewarded by a full tree of parijata, Rukmini would also demand something. Rukmini did not mention anything of the incident, however, for she was grave and simply satisfied in her service.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume 2, Chapter 5)

“Yes, I am guilty of introducing pivot points that are likely unrelated to the day-to-day observances in a regulated program of bhakti-yoga. I should be following vaidhi-bhakti, going by the rules and regulations, but sometimes these outside controversies are too enticing to pass up. The one I mention today involves meeting an esteemed religious figure, perhaps in a sacred place like Vrindavana.

“This figure is a babaji, which I think is the final stage of the formal renunciation known as sannyasa. This person no longer travels. They are finished with the parivrajaka stage, where you have to go from place to place, without a steady home. No, this babaji likely has an ashrama set up in Radha-kunda, which is a body of water dear to both Shrimati Radharani and Shri Krishna. If you visit such a person, they might reveal your true form. They will tell you what your spiritual body actually looks like, whether you are an eternal companion of Radha and Krishna in Goloka that moves or one that simply appreciates from a distance, such as a tree or a bird.

“Setting aside the particulars for a moment, this brings up an age-old issue about qualification and contact. Are we going to be liberated by meeting someone important? Or is the liberation based on the instructions that the important person gives us? Is it a magical touch? Do we need that contact with a living, pure devotee? Or is it enough to have met someone one time, accepted valuable wisdom from them, and then moved on in life?

“I hope I am expressing the issue clearly enough. In my opinion, it is dangerous to insist on meeting a specific figure. This is because you then introduce gatekeepers. Someone anoints themselves as pure and mighty. They then invalidate anything you have done in bhakti-yoga precisely because you have not had the proper contact. You have not met with someone on an approved list; therefore your progress has a ceiling. I do feel it is important to respect saintly people and take their association, but I don’t like this idea of a strict requirement of contact based on credentials that might be self-applied.”

Rather than get involved in the rivalries between the different camps, who claim their status either off heredity or through a link to a teacher who saved them, we can take similar principles and see how they apply outside the realm of spirituality. Let’s say, for instance, you are staying in a new house. It is a temporary stay, like one of those vacations or trips for work.

You enter the place and make your way around. You can figure out most things. You are familiar with life in this part of the world, after all. The only issue is that you cannot figure out how to get the shower to work. There is a fixture in the appropriate place. It resembles the shower you have back home. There is everything you would expect for a shower to operate properly. Except you cannot get the water to come out of the top. It only pours from the lower fixture, which would be used for taking a bath.

In this case, you reach out for help. You contact someone who assesses the situation. They explain that in this part of the country, it is common to have a fixture which requires a pull at the bottom. In other words, in the place you would least expect, that is where to get the shower going. You try their advice. It works! You are so happy. You can now spend the rest of the visit in good spirits, clean and tidy, as you prefer.

In this instance, the end goal is what matters. You could say that the instruction was everything. It is what you needed to solve the problem. At the same time, the instruction has a source. You would not have solved the issue on your own. You are honest in this assessment. It is a limitation of the self. There is only so much you can experiment.

In the grand scheme, the living being, who is jiva, can try this experiment and that. They may stumble upon the discovery of a universal light, one that passes through every known space. They are able to see the undivided within the divided. This is the vision in the mode of goodness, as described in Bhagavad-gita.

सर्व-भूतेषु येनैकं
भावम् अव्ययम् ईक्षते
अविभक्तं विभक्तेषु
तज् ज्ञानं विद्धि सात्त्विकम्

sarva-bhūteṣu yenaikaṁ
bhāvam avyayam īkṣate
avibhaktaṁ vibhakteṣu
taj jñānaṁ viddhi sāttvikam

“That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all existences, undivided in the divided, is knowledge in the mode of goodness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.20)

At the same time, they cannot rise beyond that. They are missing key details. Time, for instance. Where did this energy come from? How long will it last? Is there a controller overseeing everything? What is the point to it all? Just why am I here? Why do I suffer? Why am I forced to submit to nature, while at the same time showing hints of independence?

There are answers available through association with a saintly person. Chaitanya Charitamrita correctly assesses the value of that association. If for even a moment, lava matra, that meeting can change everything. When we later reach the point of liberation, where we are no longer stuck in the cycle of birth and death, we can attribute our success to that meeting. In this way, both the teachings and teacher can take credit. We continue to pay homage to both through our regular chanting of the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.