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It is the duty of the spiritual master to engage his disciples always in worshiping the Deity in this way, and it is to such a guru, or spiritual master, that we offer our obeisances.

By the word śṛṇvanti Kuntīdevī indicates that our first concern should be to hear about Kṛṣṇa. One must be eager to hear. Why do we pay a college fee and go to college? To hear. By sitting down and hearing from the learned professor, we get knowledge. Therefore a devotee always engages in hearing about Kṛṣṇa. For those who are cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the first business is hearing.

And if one has actually heard about Kṛṣṇa, one’s next engagement in bhakti-yoga will be to chant (gāyanti). The preachers of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement go from town to town, village to village. Why? What is their purpose? To preach, to chant, so that people may get the opportunity to hear this philosophy and take it seriously (gṛṇanti). The word abhīkṣṇaśaḥ indicates that these engagements should go on continuously, twenty-four hours a day without stopping. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore recommends, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ: one should engage in chanting twenty-four hours a day. That is the business of Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees.

One may perform all the methods of devotional service or may accept only one. Simply hearing is enough. Parīkṣit Mahārāja did not do anything else but sit down before Śukadeva Gosvāmī and hear for the last seven days of his life. If one simply hears, without doing anything else, if one simply sits down in the temple and whenever there is talk of Bhagavad-gītā one goes on hearing, that will be enough. Even if you do not understand, please hear. The vibration, the mantra, will help you. Grammatical or scholarly understanding is not very important. One may not know Sanskrit grammar, but bhakti is apratihatā, unimpedable. Nothing can check the progress of bhakti. Therefore one should simply adopt this process of hearing, as recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

After Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, he was criticized by Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, whose father had been a schoolfriend of Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, the father-in-law of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s father, Jagannātha Miśra. By this relationship, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was on the level of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s grandfather. Thus he said to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “You are a boy only twenty-four years old, and now You have taken sannyāsa. Sannyāsa is very difficult to keep, because for a young man the world has so many attractions. So You should hear Vedānta-sūtra.” Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya belonged to the Māyāvāda school, and this indicates that hearing is important even among the Māyāvādīs, who stress the importance of hearing Vedānta-sūtra. The Vaiṣṇavas, the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, also hear Vedānta-sūtra, but not from the Māyāvādīs, who falsely interpret it and spoil the process of hearing. The Vaiṣṇavas actually hear Vedānta-sūtra, because they do not interpret it. When Kṛṣṇa says, “I am the Supreme,” the Vaiṣṇavas accept it, and that is the proper way of hearing. If one speculatively interprets the Vedānta-sūtra or Bhagavad-gītā, saying, “The word kṛṣṇa means this, and kurukṣetra means that,” one is simply wasting one’s time. One should hear this literature as it is.

Thus although Caitanya Mahāprabhu agreed to hear Vedānta from Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, He simply went on hearing it for many days but did not ask any questions. Finally Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya said to Him, “My dear boy, You are hearing, but You do not ask any questions. Why is this? Is it that You can’t understand? What is the reason You are silent?” Caitanya Mahāprabhu answered, “Yes, I understand. But I am silent because You are explaining the Vedānta-sūtra in a speculative way. Therefore I am simply listening to the verses of Vedānta-sūtra but not actually listening to you.” Thus He indirectly said, “You are explaining the meaning foolishly.” Later He said, “The verses of Vedanta-sutra are just like sunshine, but your explanations are like clouds that cover them.”

No one needs a lamp to see the sun. Everyone can see it. But if the sun is covered by a cloud, it is very difficult to see. Similarly, the Vedānta-sūtra is like the sun, but the Māyāvāda interpretations cover the real meaning. The Māyāvādīs never accept the direct meaning. Even big political leaders who are influenced by the Māyāvāda philosophy cover the meaning of the Vedic literature by speculating, “Kurukṣetra means this, and dharma-kṣetra means that.” Our policy, therefore, should be to hear the original, as it is. Then it will be effective. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ: Viṣṇu should be heard as He is. Then one can meditate upon Viṣṇu and remember Him (smaranti). In this way one becomes jubilant (nandanti). The word nandana means “pleasing,” and one comes in touch with the reservoir of pleasure in this way.

Therefore those who are cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness have to hear about Kṛṣṇa, speak about Kṛṣṇa, and deal only in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. “By this process,” Kuntīdevī tells the Lord, “one will one day come to see You.” And when one sees God, Kṛṣṇa, what is the effect? Bhava-pravāhoparamam. The word pravāha means “current.” When there are very forceful currents in the river and some animal is thrown in, it will be washed away. Similarly, we are being washed away by the currents of material nature, which come one after another like big waves in the Pacific Ocean. Because we are under the grip of the three modes of material nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ), we are being washed away. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, māyāra vaśe yaccha bhese’: “You are being washed away, carried away, by the currents of material nature.” These are the currents of hunger and thirst, of birth, death, and old age, the currents of illusion. We are spirit souls, but because we have been put into the material ocean, the currents are carrying us away. However, if we engage twenty-four hours a day in hearing, chanting, and seriously serving Kṛṣṇa, the current will stop.

Where will the current stop? Kuntīdevī says to the Lord, padāmbujam: “It will stop at Your lotus feet.” One has to learn how to see Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet and offer a little tulasī and sandalwood pulp at the lotus feet of the Lord, and then this current of material life will stop.

There may be currents in the ocean, but if one gets a good boat, one can cross over these currents very nicely. As mentioned in another verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.58), samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavam. A lotus petal is something like a small boat, and therefore this verse says that if one takes shelter of the petal boat of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the great ocean of birth and death becomes as insignificant as the water contained in the hoofprint of a calf. In India during the rainy season the roads become muddy, and when the cows and calves walk they create holes in which water collects. But of course one can easily jump over a dozen of such puddles at any time. Similarly, although for others the world of birth and death is like a great ocean, for a devotee it is like such a puddle (bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padam), and he can jump over it very easily. In this way the devotee attains paraṁ padam, the supreme abode. Then what about this material world? Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām: this is a place not for devotees but for people who are suffering. Therefore Kuntīdevī suggests, “This Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the medicine for your suffering. Take it and be happy.”