120423 Madhya 17.mp3 (78 minutes, 54.2 MB)

In this recording of the morning class Srila Ashram Maharaj reads from Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, elaborates extensively on various points, and answers questions from Dinabandhu Prabhu and Swarnangii Didi about sincerity and artificiality. Dinabandhu Prabhu asks whether or not it is alright for aspiring devotees to feel convinced that they will achieve their goal of attaining Krishna Consciousness, despite frequently hearing humble expressions of humility and even hopelessness from the Vaishnava Acharyas and senior devotees.

This informal discussion is full of beautiful points such as the following statement about Srimad Bhagavatam:

“Every religious mentality, every religious personality, every religious attempt can find full satisfaction in the description of the Lord as a person full of qualities such as compassion, love, beauty, absolute character and so on and so forth… It is not a sectarian thing.”

Srila Ashram Maharaj ends the class with a verse about sincerity that was dear to Srila Govinda Maharaj. It is one of Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s sutras from Sri Sri Prapanna Jivanamritam (165):

“For one who receives the seed of devotion, who is selfless and penitent, denouncing his inability to abandon mundane enjoyment despite realizing it to be the embodiment of suffering, and who sincerely gives himself incessantly to all the practices of devotion–in the heart of such a devotee, the Supreme Lord ascends like the rising sun to annihilate all ignorance with its reactions, revealing His divine personality in all its pristine glory.”