Reporter: Can there be an existence without a faith, sir?
Prabhupāda: No. Faith is the beginning. But you have to... If you don't increase that faith scientifically, then that faith will not help you.
Reporter: My (indistinct), sir, that without existence, without faith, there can not be (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: No, no. That I say: faith is the beginning. Faith is the beginning.
Reporter: Because I take the word of my father, of my mother, that he is my father...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Reporter: ...I cannot prove it. Nobody can prove it that he is my father.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Therefore that is the beginning of knowledge. That is the beginning, adau śraddhā. That is stated in the śāstra: adau śraddhā, faith. Then if you have got śraddhā, then ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Suppose if you are, if you are very much anxious, you have got faith to understand Kṛṣṇa, then next step is to associate with persons who know Kṛṣṇa. Just like you are doing some business, so you have to enter into some association, businessmen, to understand the business from them. Similarly, if you have faith in Kṛṣṇa, then you have to understand Him through the association of devotees. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgau (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Atha bhajana-kriyā. Then as soon as you have... Just as these boys, they came to me. After association they wanted to be initiated: "Swami, please initiate." That is called bhajana-kriyā. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ atha bhajana kriyā. And if you are performing bhajana kriyā nicely, then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt, then all misgivings will go away.
Reporter: Anartha visya.
Prabhupāda: Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Then nobody will question. All questions will be anartha-nivṛttiḥ, all doubts gone. Then niṣṭhā, firm faith. Then firm faith, niṣṭhā. Then taste. Whenever there is Kṛṣṇa topics, immediately you go. Tato niṣṭhā...
Reporter: Taste?
Prabhupāda: Taste, ruciḥ.
Reporter: Accha. Taste, ruciḥ.
Prabhupāda: Tato niṣṭhā tataḥ ruciḥ athāsakti , then attachment.
Reporter: Tathā?
Prabhupāda: Āsakti.
Reporter: Āsakti.
Prabhupāda: Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. That is Kṛṣṇa says, mayi āsakta. We have to increase our āsakta, attachment, for Kṛṣṇa by this process. Tathāsakti tataḥ bhāvaḥ. Then you will see Kṛṣṇa everywhere. That is kṛṣṇa prema.
Reporter: That is bhāva. That is at last...
Prabhupāda: Yes, not last. Last but one. The last stage is you can not live without Kṛṣṇa.
Reporter: What do you call in Sanskrit, sir?
Prabhupāda: That is called, first of all bhāvaḥ, then prema, prema, kṛṣṇa prema. That is our high perfection. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu is speaking that "I am seeing everything vacant without Kṛṣṇa." Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. That is the last stage of perfection. You become mad about, after Kṛṣṇa. So that will take time. This is the process. But faith is the beginning. Yes. And that faith is also explained by the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta: śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya. Faith means such faith that firm faith, sudṛḍha, niścaya, certain. Kṛṣṇa bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. This is faith. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So faith means to believe in the word of Kṛṣṇa, that "Surrendering to Kṛṣṇa I will get everything. Now, I am free. This is my perfection." That is called faith. Kṛṣṇa said that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Now, if I say unto you that "You give up everything, come with me," unless you have got firm faith, how can you do it? That is faith. That faith has to be increased, and then it will reach to the stage of love.