"If under the teaching of true scripture, a man turns to Krishna, he is saved, he gets rid of illusion. A creature labouring under illusion remembers not Krishna. So Krishna kindly created the Vedas and Purans. He makes himself known through scripture, guru, and the soul; and man comes to realize 'Krishna is my lord and saviour'. The Vedas treat of Relation, Epithet, and Needs; that Relation is the attaining of Krishna, faith is the means of this attainment, the epithets are his names; love is the (supreme) need, the most precious treasure and the highest achievement of humanity. Madhur service is the means of gaining Krishna. By serving him we can enjoy the relish of him. The following parable will illustrate it: An all-knowing seer visited a poor man and seeing his misery said, 'Why are you so poor? Your father has left you a large legacy. He died elsewhere and therefore could not inform you of it.' At these words the man began to hunt for his treasure. In the same manner the Vedas and Purans instruct men about Krishna. The counsel of the seer is the source, the treasure is the consequence. By his own knowledge the man could not attain to his father's treasure the seer had to tell him the method of discovering it: 'Here lies the treasure. If you dig in the south, hornets will rise and not money. If you dig west a gnome will show itself and hinder you. In the north your diggings will discover a dark serpent, which will swallow you up. But by digging a little on the east side you will get the pots of treasure.' Similarly the Shastras assert that leaving work, knowledge and abstraction (yog), one can influence Krishna by faith alone. Vide the Bhágabat, XI. xiv. 19 & 20.
"Therefore is faith the only means of gaining Krishna, and it is described in all Shastras as abhidheya. As wealth gives pleasure and drives away sorrow of itself, so bhakti kindles love of Krishna, and when love is turned to Krishna man is freed from bondage to the world. The fruit of love is not riches or the cessation of re-birth, but its chief object is the enjoyment of the beatitude of loving."
[A long discourse on Krishna's forms, omitted in the second edition.] [Text, canto 20.]
[[1]] The town of Hajipur on the north bank of the Ganges, opposite Patna, was the seat of the governor of Bihar on behalf of the Sultans of Bengal. (Riyaz-us-salatin, Eng. tr. 134 n.)
CHAPTER XIX
On the sweetness of Krishna's attributes
[The Master continued His teaching of Sanátan thus:]
"God in His all-embracing form dwells in the highest Space (para-byom). The diverse Vaikunthas are beyond count. The extent of each Vaikuntha is millions and millions of miles. Ananda inspired by chit fills all the Vaikunthas. All of [His] attendants are filled with the six attributes (aishwaryya). The endless Vaikunthas and Space are His retinue; above all of them is Krishna's Heaven, like the seed-pod of the lotus. Thus, [Krishna's] six attributes are [only] places of [His] incarnation. Even Brahma and Shiva cannot count them, what to speak of men? Vide the Bhágabat, X. xiv. 21, Brahma's hymn to Krishna.
"Thus Krishna's celestial attributes are endless; Brahma, Shiva, Sanak and others cannot see their end. Vide the Bhágabat, X. xiv. 7.
"Not to speak of Brahma and others, even Ananta with his thousand tongues, is eternally singing [of His attributes] without being able to finish them. Vide Bhágabat, II. ii. 40.