Bhakti is an expression of practical activity, senses coming in contact with sense objects for the purpose of serving the Master of the Senses with those sense objects. Hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate. So while we're respecting others, we're serving Krsna. Or say it the other way around: Part of our service to Krsna is to respect others. Now say it again the other way around: While respecting others we're serving Krsna. We don't separate the two. We don't have a secular theology. We don't worship God and serve mammon, or serve mankind, or do civic service, or family service, or social service. We do devotional service.

We're not lacking in the answers to the how-to questions. That is not where we're lacking. We are lacking in hearing properly. If we could hear properly, we would have all the how-to answers, abundantly! A whole basket full of how-to answers! But we have beans in our ears. We can't hear. But that is how one can understand and come to the position of realizing Krsna through devotional service, through the medium of hearing, through sound vibration.

-- Adapted from a lecture given by Srila Romapada Swami in honor of Gita Jayanti, in December 2007.

Along with chanting, we have practical services that we do, because we are restless and we can't just chant. So we need practical services to do, and we need to connect those practical services with Krsna. We connect those practical services with Krsna through consciousness of Krsna, dedicating those activities to Krsna. We get that consciousness of Krsna dedication by hearing. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura describes how to hear effectively. I'm very excited to discuss that topic. I'll summarize it in a simple way. There's a sequence:

"The best propellant into good character is the desire to please Krsna. If that can be in the heart, you'll have persons of good character."

-- Adapted from a lecture given by Srila Romapada Swami in Chicago, 2007.

If there is basic faith in the principle of receiving transcendental knowledge in the method of disciplic succession, and you allow the messages to enter deeply into the heart, and you let go of the material bondage of life, the abandonment of self and the tight hold on illusion… then the transformation effect upon the heart will take place. When you act from that spiritualized place within your heart, all kinds of wonderful things start to happen: Krsna realization starts to unfold! That is how the process of bhakti through hearing is made effective. The whole process of realizing transcendental knowledge is by hearing – not by scholarship – but by hearing in the association of like-minded souls. It's very effective.

Because everything comes from the Supreme, when it is used in relationship with the Supreme, it has a spiritual quality. The original spiritual quality of things becomes restored when they are used in relationship to the Supreme. Everything comes from the Supreme, so it has its original spiritual quality, but the original spiritual quality is lost if you don't use things in relationship to the Supreme. But if you use those things in relationship to the Supreme, they can act spiritually!

-- Adapted from a lecture given by Srila Romapada Swami on the occasion of Gita Jayanti in December 2007

The soul is transcendental. We are transcendental. Unfortunately, we've abandoned ourselves and gone into this other territory called the illusory energy, identifying ourselves with it instead. So many efforts are made in the form of transcendental literature, in the form of giving association, in the form of the Holy Name, in the form of practices – so many forms – to pull us out of that dark place of ignorance wherein we are abandoning ourselves and identifying with what we are not. How can we possibly understand Krsna if we cannot let go of that darkness of ignorance and misconception of self? Just abandonment of self; going somewhere else and trying to be happy.

-- Adapted from a lecture given by Srila Romapada Swami on the occasion of Gita Jayanti, 2007.

In order to enter into selfless devotional service, and sustain it, there has to be a spiritual conception of life: a spiritual conception of self, a spiritual conception of what the goal of my life is, and a spiritual conception of the means to reach the goal. Otherwise, if I don't have a spiritual conception, I'm going to have a material conception. And if I have a material conception, I'm going to have a whole bunch of material expectations. As long as I have material expectations, I'm not going to be satisfied, and because I am not satisfied, my devotional service is going to be intermittent. There are going to be material obstacles, and I'm going to desist, because I'm going to be more concerned with those material obstacles.

If you want the situation to change, best to be that example you want to see -- be that example for others. Then you can be an instrument of Krsna's spiritual potency to make change -- not by manipulating the situation, but by being pure. Without purity, things don't go to the spiritual position. Conversely, when there's spiritual purity, things will go to the spiritual position. That takes faith. One who has faith can bring about changes in one's self, in one's family, in one's community, in the world at large in which we are trying to impact the misguided civilization around us. .

-- Adapted from a lecture given by Srila Romapada Swami in May 2005 in Chicago

The representative of Krsna can be seen as good as Krsna. He is surcharged with Krsna's potencies. That person's association is so valuable. That is why we should very very very very attentively hear whatever instructions come, because the potency is there. If we just happen to muster up enough attentiveness and humility to hear Prabhupada's purports, or his lectures, messages, or instructions in some way, and take them to heart…it's sufficient to liberate one completely, just in that moment! What to speak of regularly hearing?!