Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī-pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda used to say that– “The kind of association I have received from my Gurupādapadma, Śrīla Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, is the highest association that I could get, so I don’t need to look for some other kind of association anymore.”
Saṅga is a must. The conditioned jīva always needs to have some kind of saṅga. Alone, nobody wants to live. That is why once The Prabhupāda was asked by a group of devotees, “You always tell us, ‘Don’t go there, don’t go there,’ but can you tell us some place where we can go?” Then The Prabhupāda answered, “You can go where there is at least no Nāmāparādha.”
So we have to think over again and again before hearing kīrtana or Hari-kathā from any source, or having any kind of exchange, such as prasādam, etc., because surely every kind of saṅga will have its particular influence on us, whether good or bad.
saṅgo yaḥ saṁsṛter hetur
asatsu vihito ’dhiyā
sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto
niḥsaṅgatvāya kalpate (ŚB 3.23.55)
Association for sense enjoyment binds the jīva to saṁsāra. But that very same association, when offered to a sādhu, becomes the doorway to liberation — even when done without knowledge.
Association that is centred on sense gratification is certainly the path of bondage. It drags the poor jīva deeper into the net of forgetfulness. But that very same saṅga with pure guru-vaishnvava —even unknowingly—becomes the cause of mukti. By the mercy of the Vaiṣṇava, the knot of material attachment becomes loosened, and the heart slowly can turn toward śuddha–bhakti.
Everybody is driven by their respective saṁskāras created in this life and in past lives. Also, everybody has to suffer or enjoy their karma-phala. No father and no mother can take it away from us. Every action has its equal and opposite reaction. The whole cycle of material saṁsāra has actually nothing to do with the jīva. It is only due to our attraction to matter that we are bound to the cycle of material saṁsāra. If we are really intelligent, then immediately we should stop it and sacrifice our life unto the lotus feet of Prabhupāda. Otherwise, it is an endless cycle, never ending.
As Śaṅkarācārya said—
punar api jananaṁ punar api maraṇaṁ
punar api jananī–jaṭhare śayanam
iha saṁsāre bahu dustāre
kṛpayā’pāre pāhi murāre (from Bhaja Govindam, verse 21)
“Again birth, again death, again lying in the womb of a mother…This endless saṁsāra is very difficult to cross. O Murāri, please protect me with Your boundless mercy.”
As long as the jīva is associating with asat, she can never become free from this material saṁsāra. Everything in this material world is asat; only Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān is sat. Therefore, our association should revolve only around Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān. Then the doorway to liberation becomes open for us.
In this material world if just one of our sense organs for one fraction of second is attracted to dirty matter, then immediately we are in bondage, but at the same time one fraction divided by eleven then already it is more than enough to become liberated.
‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya CC Madhya 22.54
“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.
Here siddhi includes kṛṣṇa-prema. It does not matter how pure one has become by his own efforts, without the contact of a pure devotee who is having śuddha-bhakti in his heart, one can never come out successful. Only if we can keep Guru and Vaiṣṇava inside the heart, then all other problems can disappear. Those cannot stand in front of guru-vaiṣṇava. But divine help cannot come to us as long we are passive. One who wants to perform hari-bhajana, then cannot indulge in physical comforts. Too much attention to physical body and devotion to Kṛṣṇa cannot go simultaneously. As soon as the desire to serve Kṛṣṇa increases, the engrossment in the material body decreases. If listening and chanting are performed properly, physical idleness will diminish. To think himself as an enjoyer is the greatest impediment in the way devotion. Only when Guru and Vaiṣṇava watching that we are going to avoid everything (all material comfort, all material enjoyment) for the sake of aprākṛta-seva of the Supreme Lord, then we can enjoy Their divine help, otherwise not. If guru-vaiṣṇava going to bestow their merciful glance than that is more than sufficient, because that is called bhagavat- kṛpā.