Bhakti means to purify the senses.

Real devotee, santah, saintly persons, their eyes are purified by the ointment of love of Godhead. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti [Bs. 5.38]. They are seeing Krsna or his worshipable God... Krsna has many forms. Ramadi-murtisu. Krsna has His form as Lord Ramacandra, as Varaha, as Kurma, as Nrsimha. Ananta-koti. Innumerable forms He has got. All of them are Krsna. So a devotee, on account of his eyes being smeared with the ointment of love of God, he sees Krsna twenty-four hours within his heart. That is the vision of the devotee. Atheist class will say, "Where is God?" Because he has no eyes to see the God. But a theist class or a devotee, he sees God, or Krsna, twenty-four hours. He does not see anything else. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said, sthavara jangama dekhe na dekhe tara murti [Cc. Madhya 8.274]. A devotee, maha-bhagavata, highly advanced devotee, he sees trees, but he does not see the tree. He sees Krsna. How? Has he gone mad? No. Actually he sees. But what is this tree? The tree, outwardly, is Krsna's energy. Your body, my body, the trees's body, the dog's body, the cat's body. What are these bodies? The bodies are made of the external, material energy. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca, bhinna me prakrtir astadha [Bg. 7.4]. The material elements, they are simply Krsna's external energy. So as soon as a devotee sees anything material, he sees immediately the energy of Krsna, and along with the energy of Krsna, he sees immediately Krsna. Reactory. He actually. With reference to the context.

Panditah, those who are actually panditas, learned, knowledge, they see everyone on the equal level. Panditah sama-darsinah. Vidya-vinaye-sampanne. He sees one very learned scholar, brahmana, and sees a cow, sees one elephant, sees one dog, sees one dog eater, the lowest of the human kind, but he's sama-darsinah. He sees everyone of them as spirit soul, the body as Krsna's energy. Therefore he has no different vision for different persons. Vidya-vinaya-sampanne brah..., panditah sama-darsinah [Bg. 5.18]. This is called Brahman realization vision. Brahman realization, God.

This is brahma-bhutah vision. A pandita. Actually, when one becomes learned scholar, he becomes Brahman realized. That is the meaning of brahmana. Brahmana is one who has realized the Brahman.

So before beginning of pure devotional life, one must be Brahman realized. That is pure bhakti. That is actual, actually the platform of devotional service. Means one must be above the brahminical qualifications, a Vaisnava. A Vaisnava... Mad-bhaktim labhate param. One who attains the devotional service, param, para bhakti... There are three stages of devotional life. Arcye sila-dhir...

A person who is worshiping the Deity in the temple with all regulative principles, arcayam eva haraye yat pujam sraddhaya, with devotion, he's executing the service, but he does not know how to respect a devotee, na tad bhaktesu... He has concentrated his mind on the arca-murti, the Deity form of the Lord within the temple... That is very nice. But if he does not now how to worship a devotee, na tad-bhaktesu canyesu, and he does not know how to elevate other persons, sa bhaktah prakrtah smrtah, such kind of devotee is to be considered as material, prakrtah. Gradually, one has to become aprakrtah. So there are different stages of devotional service. Everything is explained in the scriptures.

This is the definition of bhakti in the, in the Narada Pancaratra, that when one is freed from the designations, sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam... "Sir, I am a brahmana. Therefore I can offer You something." No. Krsna is not exposed to anyone except to the devotees. Naham prakasah sarvasya yogamaya-samavrtah [Bg. 7.25]. Krsna is covered by yogamaya. He's not revealed to any, anyone, except to the devotees. There are many other instructions in the sastras. Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. That I explained. Krsna is not approachable by our these blunt senses, material senses, with designation. Unless one is freed from all designations. Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructs, "I am not a brahmana, I am not a sudra, I'm not a ksatriya, I'm not a brahmacari, I'm not a grhastha, but I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna, who is the maintainer of the gopis." Gopi-bhartur pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasa [Cc. Madhya 13.80]. So Krsna is not visible to the atheist class of men. Krsna's only visible to the devotees. And the devotee sees Krsna and nothing but Krsna, and twenty-four hours. It is not that Krsna is... A devotee sees Krsna while he's worshiping only, and other times, he's not seeing. No. He's seeing twenty-four hours. But the atheists, they ask, "Can you show me Krsna? Can you show me God?" The reply is, "Have you got the eyes to see Krsna?" It is not so easy, Krsna. In the Brahma-samhita it is said,

Govinda. Panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyo. Pantha means road. If you walk over the path of Krsna... Suppose Krsna, there is Krsnaloka. Above this material universe, there is another spiritual sky, paravyoma. It is called paravyoma. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah 'vyakta 'vyaktat sanatanah [Bg. 8.20]. There is another nature. As this is material nature, there is spiritual nature. And in that spiritual nature there are innumerable spiritual planets. They are called Vaikuntha planets. And the highest Vaikuntha planet is called Krsnaloka, or Goloka Vrndavana. This Vrndavana is replica of that original Vrndavana. When Krsna comes on this planet or within this universe, He comes in this Vrndavana. This is called Bhauma-Vrndavana. Of course, there is no difference between Bhauma-Vrndavana and Paravyoma-Vrndavana. So if we want to see Krsna, then we must be freed from designations. That is the process. Not only designations, but from all kinds of desires.

These are the definitions given by Srila Rupa Gosvami. We Gaudiya Vaisnavas, Madhva-Gaudiya Vaisnavas, we are followers of Srila Rupa Gosvami and others, Sad-Gosvami.

Unless one has followed strictly the path of the Sad-Gosvamis, we cannot accept him as guru. Because Narottama dasa Thakura says, ei chay gosai yara tara mui dasa. One who has followed strictly the principles of Rupa Gosvami. Rupa Gosvami, of course, he lived very simply, mendicant. A small loincloth and simple underneath a tree. But simply by imitating his loincloth one does not become Rupa Gosvami. One has to follow the principles of Rupa Gosvami. Then he's called rupanuga. Unless you become rupanuga, you cannot understand the Gaudiya philosophy. Ei chay gosai yara tara mui dasa. So this is called parampara system. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayoh viduh [Bg. 4.2]. If you follow the path of Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami... Not that simply by imitating his cloth. You must follow in principle all the rules and regulations given by...

This is the definition given by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. So one must be freed from all material desires. You cannot earn your livelihood by showing the Deity. This was not the business of Rupa Gosvami. Rupa Gosvami did not do any business by showing the Deity. Therefore you have to follow strictly the principles of Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami. Then you become Rupanuga Vaisnavas. And Narottama dasa Thakura says, "One who is following the principles of the Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami, tara mui dasa, I accept him as spiritual master." Tan-sabara pada-renu mora panca-gras.

So radha-krsna nitya-lila karila prakasa. By the, writing so many books, hundreds of books, Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, especially Jiva Gosvami... Nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau sad-dharma-samsthapakau lokanam hita-karinau. They wrote, they wrote books for the benefit of the whole world. Lokanam hita-karinau. They did not write books only for the Hindus or for the persons who are in India or in Vrndavana. Lokanam hita-karinau, nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau. There were very, very expert. You'll find in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, wherever Srila Rupa Gosvami has stated something, immediately he has given reference from the sastras. He did not manufacture anything which is against the sastras. That is Rupanuga, Rupanuga Vaisnava. So in order to see God, in order to serve God, we have to follow. Sri Narottama dasa Thakura, he has said,

Rupa-raghunatha-pade haibe akuti. Unless one becomes very, very much eager to follow the path of Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, he cannot understand what is the love affairs of Radha and Krsna. Without following the principles of Rupa Gosvami, if we wants to understand what is Radha and Krsna, then we shall understand a boy, ordinary boys' and girls' affairs. That is not Radha-Krsna. Therefore in the sastra it is said, atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. Do not try to understand Radha and Krsna with these blunt eyes and senses; try to understand through the instructions of Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana Gosvami.

So this is the process. Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which we have translated into English, Nectar of Devotion, is very important book. It is the science of devotional service. If you want to be engaged in devotional service, then you must read the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. And then we shall be able to see God. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena [Bs. 5.38], by following the rules and regulations and the direction laid down in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, we shall be gradually elevated to the platform of loving God. Srila Rupa Gosvami therefore says, adau sraddha. Adau sraddha. First of all, faith. That is the basic principle. And this word, sraddha, has been described in the Caitanya-caritamrta by Kaviraja Gosvami,

This is called sraddha, that "If I surrender to Krsna, then all business of my life is done." This is called sraddha. Not that sometimes I worship Lord Krsna, sometimes Lord Siva, sometimes goddess Kali, sometimes this, sometimes that. That is not sraddha. Sraddha means sudrdha niscaya visvasa. What is that visvasa? Krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya. If I worship only Krsna, then all other duties are performed. Automatically. The example is just like if you pour water on the root of the tree, the transmission of the water is automatically done to the other branches, leaves, and everything. If you supply food to the stomach, then the energy is distributed automatically to the eyes, ears and other parts of the body. Similarly, if you simply offer Krsna surrender and worship Him, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66], then you worship all other demigods. You don't have to exert yourself for worshiping other demigods. That is automatically done. Therefore the whole concentration should be given to Krsna.