The Science of Krishna Consciousness, Bhakti-YogaWe should take a few observations about the role of faith in Bhakti-Yoga. It is often said that religion is based either on subjective experiences that cannot be verified by others or on received doctrines that cannot be verified at all. Therefore, the charge goes, religion is a matter of blind faith. But this charge does not apply to the process of bhakti-yoga, for bhakti-yoga is based on verifiable observation. True, a person using ordinary sense perception cannot verify the realizations attained by someone practicing bhakti-yoga. But these realizations can be verified by other persons who are also able to exercise their higher sensory capacities. Read more ...

The Process of Bhakti-yoga The process of bhakti-yoga involves reawakening the relationship between the individual conscious self (the jivatma) and the Supreme Person, Krishna. Krishna accompanies each embodied jivatma as the Supersoul, and He directs the material body of the jivatma in accordance with the jivatma’s desires and past fruitive activities, or karma. This means that a relationship always exists between the jivatma and the Supreme Person, but the jivatma in the materially embodied state is not conscious of this relationship, which is consequently one-sided. Not being directly aware of the Lord, the embodied jivatma either ignores Him or appeals to Him as a vaguely conceived supplier of material needs. Read more ...

Krishna—This sound is transcendental. Krishna means the highest pleasure. All of us, every living being, seeks pleasure. But we do not know how to seek pleasure perfectly. With a materialistic concept of life, we are frustrated at every step in satisfying our pleasure because we have no information regarding the real level on which to have real pleasure.

We have been learning that we are not this body; we are consciousness. Not exactly consciousness, for consciousness is actually the symptom of our real identity: we are pure soul, now merged within this material body. Now the process we are trying to learn from the Bhagavad-gita (The Song of God) is how to bring ourselves to this level of consciousness. And if we act from the level of consciousness, then we may not be pushed again into the level of this bodily conception. Read more ...