Madhyama-adhikārī is not only interested in Deity worship, but he knows who is a devotee and who is innocent and who is Bhagavān. Īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu. Bāliśa means innocent. There are many innocent men. They... Actually, they do not know what is to be done, who is God. They are innocent. They are not offender. But there are other others who are offenders, dviṣat. Dviṣat means envious. They are immediately envious as soon as they hear of a devotee of God. They are called envious, dviṣat. So madhyama-adhikārī, he knows God, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). So he wants to develop his love for Kṛṣṇa. Avyartha-kālaṁ vasati, nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. The madhyama-adhikārī, he wants to see that not a moment is wasted without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is madhyama-adhikārī. Avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). He's always careful that "Whether I am spoiling the valuable time of my life?" That is the first qualification of madhyama-adhikārī. Avyartha-kālatvam. Because we have got very short period, living period. We do not know when we shall die. There is no certainty. Foolish people may think that "I shall live forever," but that is foolishness. Life is very transient. At any moment we can die. Therefore those who are advanced devotee, they want to see that "I have got very short period of life at my disposal." Therefore, he is very anxious to utilize every moment for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is madhyama-adhikārī. Avyartha-kālatvam.
And nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ: "And he has got special taste for chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." Nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ. Vasati tad..., prītis tad-vasati sthale: (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19) "And he is very much anxious to live in such places like Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā, Mathurā, where Kṛṣṇa lived." Tad-vasati sthale. Vasati means residential. When Kṛṣṇa appears on this planet, He lives in Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā dhāma. So a devotee also, advanced devotee, they want to live in the residential places of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, God, has got His residential places everywhere. That's a fact. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). He is residing even within the atom. But still He has got special residential places like Vṛndāvana, Dvārakā, Mathurā. So a devotee is anxious to live in those places.
Prītis tad-vasati sthale, nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ, avyartha-kālatvam (Cc. Madhya 23.18-19). Their business is to increase love of God. To increase love of God means there is also process, how to increase. The process is given by Rūpa Gosvāmī:
- ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā
- tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
- athāsaktis tato bhāvas tataḥ premābhyudañcati
- sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
- (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15)
These are the gradual steps. Śraddhā. Śraddhā means faith. Faith is the beginning. Without faith, you cannot make..., there is no question of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Faith means that faith is created after reading Bhagavad-gītā. If you read Bhagavad-gītā carefully and if you actually understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then the faith will be created. Without reading Bhagavad-gītā, there is no question of faith in Kṛṣṇa. So what is that faith? That Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You give up all other engagements. You just surrender to Me, and I shall give you protection." So if we have got faith, if we believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa, that is called faith. If we don't believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa, if we study as a literary thesis and then throw it away, that is not faith.