(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 March 2013, Mayapur, India, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.30.17)
The Srimad Bhagavatam establishes Lord Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and devotional service sa vai pumsam paro dharmo (SB 1.2.6), as the supreme activity which can completely satisfy the self. Then, as Srila Prabhupada pointed out, material assets in itself have no value in devotional service. They are zero but if you put a one in front then all these zeroes become meaningful! So piety in itself, mundane piety in itself has no value but when engaged, but when a pious person engages in the service of Krsna, then that becomes a great wealth and great opulence because that piety will be a great support in spiritual life. What to do for most of us?
Kaler dosha-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah (SB 12.3.51), it is the age of kali, the age where the ocean of faults is within our hearts, aprarabdha-phalam papam kutam bijam phalonmukham, kramenaiva praliyeta vishnu-bhakti-ratatmanam (Padma Purana). It is stated that within the heart, the heart is filled with aprarabhda karma or karma that is now not manifesting but the seeds of many sinful activities are stored within the heart.
So, the heart is the storehouse of sinful reactions and the result is a sinful inclination and then the result is more sinful activities… which increases the sinful stock… which increases the sinful inclination even more… which leads to more sinful activities… which still creates it, adds on to this stock and creates the intensity of our sinfulness.
Therefore one could say that in this age of kali, we are thoroughly sinful. And what can we say!? The sinfulness in our hearts may be buried in so many places. In so many places, the remnants of our previous sinful activities may be there or as they say in colloquial American, “Everyone has skeletons in the closet.” So that is there! What to do!? But then in the middle, in the middle of that, kirtanad eva krishnasya (SB 12.3.51) that sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya has appeared!
Oh yes, Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the all attractive! Generally speaking, we are translating the word Krsna as all attractive, to akarshan which means to attract. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura had an interesting angle on the word akarshan as ‘also to attract’ as Krsna being the one who can be attracted by devotional service. So, both definitions are there. Krsna is attracting us and Krsna can be attracted by devotional service.