Apart from our material desires and the crazy mind, another formidable obstacle in our spiritual path is karma. Our karma is compared to a bunch of knots in a rope that binds us to this material world. Karma makes us take birth in a certain place, become part of a certain family, live in a certain place, have a certain circle of friends, work on a certain job, have certain positive and negative personal characteristics, and so on. We always have a certain degree of choice, but it is actually much more limited than we like to think.

We may complain that we don’t have enough time to practice spiritual life because we have to struggle so hard to live, because we live too far away from the temple, because our relatives or spouses are not devotees, because other people are mean to us, or cheat us, or even because we can’t wake up early to chant, because our minds are too unstable, and so on. However, what we may fail to realize is that most of it comes from our Karma. In this way, Karma more often than not puts us in situations that are unfavorable to cultivate our spiritual practice.

The scariest of all however is that karma can affect the way we think. The values and mental paradigm we have in this life are also a result of our past actions, and thus also connected with karma. In this way, karma can also make things quite hard for us when we speak about understanding spiritual knowledge.

What is the solution? We have to break through this tangle of knots and gradually free ourselves from these impediments. Only when the knot of our previous karma is destroyed we gain the freedom to change our lives.

How can we do that? Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.15 teaches:

“With sword in hand, intelligent men cut through the binding knots of reactionary work [karma] by remembering the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, who will not pay attention to His message?”

The sword mentioned here is transcendental knowledge, which must be combined with devotional service. In the Bhagavad-Gita Krsna says that we should control the mind using the intelligence, but later He says that just like the mind and senses, the intelligence is also occupied by lust, and thus can’t be trusted. At first, it may appear as a contradiction, but it is not so.

The material intelligence is mainly subservient to the mind, working to satisfy the different material desires that come from it. When Krsna says we should control the mind using intelligence, He means a different type of intelligence: spiritual intelligence, which in turn comes from hearing from the scriptures and receiving instructions from pure devotees of the Lord.

If we hear something genuine, coming from Krsna, and we accept it, we gradually develop our spiritual intelligence, which in turn helps us to control the mind. This same spirtual intelligence when used to engage in spiritual activities, chanting and remembrance of the Lord becomes also the sword that can help us to cut through the knots of karma, freeing ourselves from this material world.

However, often the problem is that we don’t have a taste for hearing, just as we may not have a taste for chanting and doing other aspects of our spiritual practice. What should we do in this case?

The next verse answers:

“O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vāsudeva.”

Amongst all devotees, pure devotees who accept personal inconveniences to spread Krsna’s messages are the most dear of all. By serving such devotees we can gradually develop their qualities, and thus acquire a taste for hearing about Krsna. This happens because Krsna feels indebted when we offer respects or try to assist His dear servants in any way, and thus becomes inclined to more directly help us to come closer to Him. Srila Prabhupada explains that it may be very difficult to please a very rich and powerful man, but if one can please his child by giving a small sweet he immediately gets his favor. Similarly, it may be difficult to directly approach Krsna, but His pure devotees are much more accessible.

Srila Prabhupada explains this point in his purport:

“The servants of God come to propagate God consciousness, and intelligent people should cooperate with them in every respect. By serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly serving the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when He sees that His servants are properly respected because such servants risk everything for the service of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord. The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.69) that no one is dearer to Him than one who risks everything to preach His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually gets the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear the glories of God.”

One may argue that apart from acquiring a taste for hearing and chanting, there is still another formidable obstacle, which is the desire for material enjoyment. Even advanced devotees can sometimes fall down, so what is the hope for us? The next verse answers that:

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.” (1.2.17)

Once we acquire a taste for hearing the message of Srimad Bhagavatam, our path back to Godhead becomes wide open, because by seeing this sincerity Krsna Himself, in the form of Paramatma inside the heart starts to clean such material desires. As a result, we can focus on the transcendental message.

Actually, Krsna is capable of clearing the material desires of everyone, but He does that only when one becomes sincere in the spiritual path. Often we want to hold to our bad habits and material desires, maintaining some hope of doing it secretly, or satisfying such material desires in the future. Because we are still holding on to such desires, Krsna doesn’t clean them away, even if we are chanting. Holding to them is the result of a conscious choice, and Krsna respects this choice. As we become more sincere, by following the process of hearing and chanting, serving advanced devotees, and hearing transcendental knowledge from them, we gradually become more sincere, start to give up such material desires and as a result, Krsna starts to clean them away.