by Srila B.B. Tirtha Goswami Maharaja
Sree Sree Guru Gauranga Jayatah!
Congenial association is a great factor in achieving enhancement in bhajan. Uncongenial association diverts the minds of sadhakas. In exceptional cases, spiritually well-established persons can do bhajan under any circumstance anywhere and everywhere. In this Kaliyuga, congenial company is necessary for making progress in bhajan. Thakur Bhaktivinod says, “I don’t get strength in practising Harinama (sankirtan) alone.”
Collective bhajan is strength in Kaliyuga. But this collective bhajan should be with like-minded bona fide souls and not with those persons who have got ulterior motives. Evil company is to be avoided. We should perform Harinama avoiding the ten-fold offences.
Association of a true devotee is essential for spiritual devotional amelioration. A true devotee is rarely to be found in this world. If you want quality, you cannot get quantity.
Even if we, by previous eternal good deeds, come in contact with a true devotee, we cannot submit to him sincerely and wholeheartedly. It is very difficult to give up our mundane egotism which we have acquired by cycles of births and deaths after being averse to Sri Krishna. But there is no cause for disappointment. If we sincerely try, God and His Personal Associates will come to help us and rescue us.
