Question to Radhanath Swami: I have been practicing chanting Hare Krishna for a while. Still, so many problems, so many obstacles in spiritual life!
Radhanath Swami: One who has faith in the holy name of Krishna will overcome all obstacles. It’s a major difficulty in a devotee’s life—we just don’t have that faith in chanting Hare Krishna. If we just have that faith, there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome. If we have faith in Krishna’s name as being identical to Krishna—all merciful, fully accessible even to you and me—then we can not only overcome the day to day problems, we can actually cross over the ocean of birth and death. That is the power of the name.
Thus the association of devotees is so very, very critical because in that association—hearing from the devotees, speaking with the devotees, and exchanging the 6 loving reciprocation with the devotees—faith awakens. Faith is not something put into you, faith is awakened from within; the soul inherently has complete faith.
We have to long for this faith, we have to beg for this faith, we must pray for this faith and we must do the needful to get this faith. When we are humble, when we are tolerant, when we respect others and don’t expect respect for ourselves, we attract Krishna’s mercy, which awakens that faith and love in our heart.
