Passage 6

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

If your resolve is sacred, the very strength of that resolve will give you the power you need.

Caitanya's Ideal

Once Caitanya went to a temple with his mother Śacīdevī. There he beheld the living Image: “Swami! I have no desires that belong to the body. But there is one wish, just one. I want the strength to love You. I need nothing else. For You are the very embodiment of Prema. Prema is our life-breath, Prema is our life. Everything is contained in Prema itself. So grant me the strength to love You,” he prayed. His mother, standing beside him: “My son! There must at least be food to eat and shade to rest in, mustn't there! Why do you say you want nothing?” she asked. Caitanya: “Mother! Even at this age you are unable to know the principle of God. If we gain just this one thing, Prema for God, all that we need is attained. We must not waste our life on petty little wishes,” he said. In the world, evil is always chasing the good. Many troubles come to good people. But those troubles make the goodness within them grow all the more.

Sorrow and joy, the two, are joined together; To part them is in no one's power; Joy by itself we shall nowhere see; When sorrow bears fruit, they call it joy.

When Caitanya went through the streets singing bhajans to Kṛṣṇa, some wicked people would snatch away the clappers from his hands. But Caitanya, with unshaken faith and firm resolve, went through street after street and carried on his bhajans to Kṛṣṇa. Little by little many children joined him and went on singing bhajans to Kṛṣṇa. Though their parents stood in their way, those children would not leave Caitanya's path in the least. Caitanya would seat those children beside him and teach them spiritual matters.