2020.03.05 - The importance of studying scriptures (Vrindavan) - Bhakti Vijnana Goswami

To attain the highest stage of the spiritual path we have to go through the lower stages: 1) sravana dasa – the stage of hearing the scriptures; 2) varana dasa – the stage of accepting certain spiritual identity; 3) smarana dasa – we cultivate our identity further; 4) bhava-apana dasa – the stage of attaining some spiritual sentiments; 5) prema-sampati dasa – attaining prema. When we hear "Srimad-Bhagavatam" properly the transmission of taste takes place, it is called sravana dasa. Different types of hearing: 1) bahirmukha dasa – the person does not have taste for hearing. To get the taste we need to accumulate certain amount of samskaras, or impressions. Therefore during this period we force ourselves to hear, this is not bhakti yet, but it leads to bhakti; 2) sastriya-sraddha means intense hankering for hearing sastra, it means little taste; 3) sravana dasa – I have a strong desire to hear even if I don’t understand anything. Two kinds of sravana dasa: krama-suddha – systematic hearing of sastra; and krama-hina – chaotic hearing of sastra. If we have unsystematic hearing we will never get the complete understanding of Krisna-lilas and we will never have spiritual experience. If we listen to "Srimad-Bhagavatam" with eagerness, systematically, from a person in whom we have complete trust, the transmission of the taste takes place, and we are transported into the realm of rasa. When one realizes that Krisna-lila is taking place right now, that it is not ancient history, then he has successfully passed the period of sravana-dasa.