"KRISHNA KATHA"

[Saravit Devi Dasi]

In Bhagavad Gita (4.9), Sri Krishna says “One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna”. So Krishna is not without activity, in fact He is sac-cit-andanda-vigraha - full of eternal truth, knowledge and bliss in a personal form. But His activities are mysterious for mundane people. In fact Sri Krishna Himself says ( BG 9.11) that “Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be”.
So if we are serious about our spiritual lives, then we must hear and read about the pastimes of Krishna from a self-realized, bona fide source. Krishna katha is words spoken by Krishna (as in the Bhagavad Gita), and words spoken about Krishna (as in Srimad Bhagavatam). Both are transcendental and can liberate one from the cycle of birth and death. However, just as milk that has been tasted by a serpent is poison, Krishna katha delivered by materialistic people and professional reciters is devastating to spiritual progress. We must therefore seek out a self-realized spiritual master in a bona fide disciplic succession, render service to him, inquire submissively from him, and try and understand the glories of Sri Krishna from him.