Impressions of Bhakti

Śrīla Gurudeva, nitya-līlā-pravista Śrī śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja, is an eternal associate of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Krsna and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We read in śāstra that such associates are tri-kāla-jña and sarva-jña, meaning that in the past, present, and future, nothing in the Lord's material or spiritual creation remains unknown to them. We read in ŚrīmadBhāgavatam (1.5.6, purport by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda): “A person who is cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord is the emblem of all knowledge. Such a devotee of the Lord in full perfection of devotional service is also perfect by the qualification of the Personality of Godhead. As such, the eightfold perfections of mystic power (asta-siddhis) constitute very little in his godly opulence.”

By their own life's example, such pure devotees reveal the stages acquired in the gradual development of pure devotion to Śrī Kęsņa. They teach us what to do, and what not to do, in order to advance in bhakti. They also teach us the importance of acquiring suksti, spiritual credits accrued by knowingly or unknowingly engaging in acts of devotion, and saṁskāras, impressions on the heart attained from the suksti of this and previous lives.

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