Question: Can you please explain to me how to develop taste towards spiritual life when all material things around us are looking attractive, though we know that they degrade us more and more?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Taste for spiritual life comes by rendering service to mahatmas. This is the prescription given in Bhagavatam (SB 1.2.16) :
susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha rucih
syan mahat sevaya
Pure devotion is as much infectious, in a good sense, as a contagious disease. Association with pure devotees awakens the taste for hearing about Krishna that is dormant in our heart. Thus, gradually one loses the attraction for enjoying material things. One need not give up the material world, but one’s vision changes from a mood of enjoyment to a mood of service while looking at the things around them.
One should select the association of persons who are themselves free from taste for material enjoyment. Otherwise, in spite of prolonged association, one’s material attraction will not be cured. There are many pseudo-devotees, particularly in this age. One must be very cautious not to hear submissively from such persons. Although Krishna-katha or krishna-kirtan itself is pure, hearing from an unauthorized person is compared to drinking milk touched by a serpent!
Since such opportunity for genuine saintly association is very rare in this age, the prescribed process is hari-nama-kirtana. By chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra sincerely, in a prayerful mood, the Lord who is situated within one’s heart, will cleanse the desire for material enjoyment, and guide one to good association. As Lord Krishna is all-powerful and all-attractive. His Holy Name is equally so. Just as the rising sun dissipates all fog, chanting of the Holy Name dispels material desires like fog, and awakens attraction for Krishna. Similarly, studying the Srimad Bhagavatam is very effective in awakening spiritual taste. Bhagavatam is full of description of the transcendental dealings between the Lord and His pure devotees. Those who have no immediate good association can associate with the pure devotees like Narada, Arjuna, Queen Kunti, Prahlada Maharaja and so on, through the pages of Bhagavatam, by studying it in a humble and sincere mood. The descriptions of their lives and character will make all material attractions pale in comparison.
