Srila Gurudeva: What is the meaning of sankalpa? “Oh, Guru has told me that these things are favorable for bhakti. Now I am taking a vow that I will always try to fulfill this. If I am drinking water, I will offer it first to Krsna with Tulasi and only then will I drink it. If I am eating anything without doing this, then it is like stool or meat or anything. But if it is offered to Krsna with Tulasi, then it will be helpful for me.” So in this way, what is helpful in our bhakti, beginning from Vaisnavas and Gurudeva, we should adopt. Then they will tell us to accept that which is helpful. Then, pratikulyasya-varjanam. What is unfavorable, we should try to give those things up.
We should now think whether what we are doing, is it favorable for bhakti or not? Are what we doing for maintaining our family against bhakti or not? If you want to do bhakti, you should stop doing any bad things at once. Try to adopt only that which is favorable for bhakti and give up that which is not favorable. You should take a vow and never do that which is unfavorable. Third is, raksisyatiti visvaso. Krsna will always protect you. He is always protecting us, but we are not realizing this. We must have so much deep faith in Krsna that if any danger, problem, or anything will come, Krsna will surely protect us. Why? How? Because He is powerful. Any powerful person cannot protect everyone if he is not sarva-jna, all knowing. Even if they are sarva-jna and powerful, they cannot protect you if they have no mercy. So Krsna is almighty, all knowing, and all-merciful, causelessly merciful. Everything is there.
So there is no one equal to Krsna in this world, He must save us. Why? Because by nature He is merciful. This nature of His will never change. But we have no faith in this, so we are doing so many things to try to protect ourselves. If we will have so much strong faith, then there is nothing to do for our own protection. So Gurudeva will never tell anyone, “You should do like what I am doing.” Instead he will say, “You should act according to your stage.” But gradually it will come, these things will come, a strength will come by hearing from Vaisnavas. If anyone is chanting and remembering Krsna for the whole day and night, is there anything remaining to do for that person?
Does he have any responsibility in this world? Is there anything else remaining to achieve in this world? Why should we do this bogus business and all these things. Why? Why? Because we have no faith. Why you are not being like Madhavendra Puri? Because you have no faith. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu mercifully came to this world to teach us all these things. Krsna will always protect us, whether we have so much strong faith or not, but He will not give up His nature. He will surely protect us.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on December 21st, 1998, Bali, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 24]