(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 03 January 2016, Drakensberg, South Africa, Lecture)
Remembrance of Krsna is the result of hearing and chanting. When you hear and chant, then automatically remembrance comes, sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam (Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.23). This is the bhagavat vidhi, the path of glorifying the Supreme Lord. So this path of glorifying the Supreme Lord starts with hearing. In the initial stages, we do not fully remember what we hear; so many things we are not conscious of as we are not attentive. But at one point, we begin to consciously remember. It begins to happen where we actually begin to remember Krsna.
It is said that one can get benefit by associating with a pure devotee and then, one can borrow some of the ecstasy of that devotee. It is called chaya bhava. So we borrow ecstasy and this is an important thing to do. And you know how that goes… if you borrow something for a long time, it just becomes yours, you never give it back. Somehow this is what happens. When we associate with vaisnavas then not only are we hearing interesting things, not only are we getting some knowledge that we did not yet have; there is more – we are also borrowing some of their ecstasy and that makes a big difference!