Why Depressed and Disappointed?

     If you have strong faith, you will get Krishna.  You have faith, but it is not strong. It is soft faith. At any time it can break and you feel yourself disappointed, depressed. Why such feelings? Why disappointed? Why depressed? Because you do not have strong faith in Krishna.  You have no faith in sadhu-sastra-guru vakya  You have lost faith, therefore you feel disappointed and depressed.

     Faith is the most important thing. It has been stressed in Bhagavad-gita, in Srimad Bhagavatam, and all of our acaryas have said it. Rupa Goswami says in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.4.15-16) that everything begins with sraddha:

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha rucis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudancati

sadhakanam ayam premna pradurbhave bhavet kramah

     "First comes sraddha, faith; next sadhu-sanga, association with saintly persons; after that bhajana-kriya, spiritual practices; then anartha-nivrtti, cessation of all offenses or obstacles; next nistha, firmness; which is followed by ruci, taste; after that asakti, attachment; then bhava; and then appears prema.  These are the different stages leading to prema's appearance within the heart of a spiritual practitioner."

     It's a gradual process. Mahaprabhu said the same thing:

ucca sankirtane kari sraddhara pracara

"Loudly chant the holy names and preach with faith."

     When my guru-maharaja came to the West, what did he have with him? Only strong faith in Krishna, strong faith in the words of his guru, strong faith in the holy name. He had nothing else. It is a question of strong faith in Gopal.  But people are lacking faith. You should develp strong faith. Caitanya-caritamrta (madhya 22.62) states:

'sraddha'-sabde----visvasa kahe sudrdha niscaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya .

     "Sraddha" is defined as confident, firm faith that by rendering transcendental loving service to Krishna one automatically performs all subsidiary activities.  Such faith is favorable to the discharge of devotional service."  

Chant Loudly!

     If you develop krsna-bhakti, all of your duties and obligations are finished.  You are thinking, "This is my duty, my responsibility, to look after the maintenance of my family, my wife, and my children.  But it is said, krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya --- "All of your work is finished." Everyone says this, but they are only speaking from the lips. In their heart, 99.9% people have no faith.  Therefore Guaranga Mahaprabhu has said, ucca sankirtane kari sraddhara pracara — "Chant loudly: hare krsna hare krsna, krsna krsna hare hare, hare rama hare rama, rama rama hare hare. Inculcate sraddha, faith unto those people who have not developed sraddha."

     My guru-maharaja did that. When he first arrived here he came with only a pair of kartalas. He simply went to a park and chanted Hare Krishna.  The hippies were rolling on the ground, half-naked, taking strong drugs like LSD and marijuana, and becoming mad.  My guru-maharaja just played karatalas and chanted, and thereby he inculcated sraddha in them. Cora-vesya-satha—the thieves, the prostitutes, and the cheaters — sadhu is able to inculcate sraddha even into them. That is Mahaprabhu's instruction; agre sraddha diya --- "First inculcate sraddha unto them." Then when they are sraddhavan, when they ahve developed sraddha, strong faith in the holy name, strong faith in Krishna, and sadhu-sastra-guru-vakya, then they are eligible to be initiated.

     There is the offense to the holy name known as sraddha-hina-jane namopadesa---"giving someone nama-upadesa, instructions on chanting, if they are lacking in sraddha." So agre-sraddha—first one must have sraddha.

     How can one develop sraddha? That is another question—for this reason we perform loud sankirtan. Doing so you can develop sraddha. Don't feel depressed or disappointed; Mahaprabhu is there, Krishna is there, Srila Prabhupada is there. Chant loudly and fill the atmosphere with transcendental sound vibration!  You should have full faith in the holy name, in Gopal, in Krishna and Mahaprabhu.  Don't feel depressed at any time, under any circumstances.  There is no quetion of pessimism in Mahaprabhu's movement. There is all optimism.  I have seen during my tour that now this pessimism is widespread amongst the devotees in America.  Seing that, I feel very sorry. I am crying in my heart. What has happened?  My guru-maharja came here first. He sowed the seed here. Now what has happened?  They have lost faith — such a sorry state of affairs.

     How is it that a small boy immediately developed faith and got Krishna? He cried out, "O Gopal! Where are You? My mother has said to call you!" And immediately Gopal appeared..

Why Depressed and Disappointed?