So it is not that devotees are sentimental. It is not that. Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā (SB 1.2.12). Bhakti devotional service, after complete Vedic literature understanding . . . but bhakti is so nice thing that if one takes to bhakti directly, he understands Vedic version automatically.
- vāsudeve bhagavati
- bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
- janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ
- jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
- (SB 1.2.7)
This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Even one is illiterate, if he sincerely takes to bhakti-yoga, so the Vedic philosophical conclusion automatically awakens.
- yasya deve parā bhaktir
- yathā deve tathā gurau
- tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
- prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
- (ŚU 6.23)
These are the statement, and actually . . . just like these boys. These boys, they were not educated in Vedic literature. Never. But how they have taken to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness? This is the magic of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not dependant on studying of Vedas, but if you take seriously to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the Vedic knowledge is automatically awakened.
- yasya deve parā bhaktir
- yathā deve tathā gurau
- tasyaite hy kathitā arthāḥ
- prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
- (ŚU 6.23)
This is the secret. If one has unflinching faith in Kṛṣṇa and unflinching faith to his devotion . . . to his spiritual master, then automatically the Vedic knowledge becomes awakened. This is a fact, you can see. They never knew what is Vedic life, Vedic knowledge, but how they have become so nice, perfect devotee? That unflinching faith. That is required. Viśvāse milaya vastu tarke bahu-rūpa.(?) And that viśvāsa, that is explained, viśvāsa, faith, in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, viśvāsa-śabde, viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya, kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta (CC Madhya 22.62). Śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya. This is statement of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. He said śraddhā. Because to become a devotee, the begin is śraddhā, faith.
Just like you all ladies and gentlemen, you are coming. It is the śraddhā, "Let us hear something, what they are speaking about Kṛṣṇa." This is the beginning. So this śraddhā, as it grows and becomes firmly fixed up, that is devotion. Śraddhā means, devotion means, gradually making the śraddhā more and more fixed up. Ādau śraddhā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 23.14-15). First of all śraddhā, faith. Then association with the devotees. Atha bhajana-kriyā tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ, athāsaktis tato bhāvaḥ (CC Madhya 23.14-15). Bhāva. So we have to come to the stage of bhāva, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ. Kṛṣṇa says:
- ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
- mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
- iti matvā bhajante māṁ
- budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
- (BG 10.8)
So this bhāva, the ecstatic stage of devotional service, one has to reach. That is the perfection, or that the priority stage of love of Godhead.