Faith explained by Srila Prabhupada...

Prabhupada:…So without faith, you cannot make advance. The skeptics, they have no faith. Therefore they are lost. You must have faith.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? What is that ingredient or what is that thing which causes faith to develop in one? From someone becoming…

Prabhupāda: Purity. Purity. The more you become pure, the faith is firm.

Nārāyaṇa: So faith comes from previous pious activities?

Prabhupāda: No, may not be previous activity. You believe the authority, spiritual master.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That comes from purity, faith.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: As purity develops, one becomes more faithful.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That purity is said, ādau śraddhā: “Beginning is faith.” Now tato sādhu-saṅgaḥ: “You mix with faithful men.” Then it will develop. Otherwise, if you take simply initiation and then sleep, then faith will be lost. That is happening.Therefore it is said, adau śraddhā tato sādhu-saṅgaḥ. You accept faith, maybe blindly. Now you make further progress by mixing with advanced devotees. Then it will remain fixed. Otherwise you will loss.

Bahulāśva: Faith is fixed by knowledge?

Prabhupāda: No, faith may be blind, but it increases. If you stick to faith and follow the principles, then it will increase. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. Just like… Yasya deve parā bhaktiḥ yathā deve tathā gurau. So if you have got faith in spiritual master then you will advance. If you have no faith, then it will be lost.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And unless one is pure, he will not have faith.

Prabhupāda: No.

Paramahaṁsa: Isn’t it is also like a child?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Everyone is child. So the father says, “Do this. That’s all.” Like “Write ‘A.’ ” He does not know what is A. But the father says, “You write like this.” That will increase his education.

Paramahaṁsa: But doesn’t it come first because of trust?

Prabhupāda: Yes, trust. Without trust, without faith, you cannot advance even an inch. So therefore it is required.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Right. Prabhupāda, what are the symptoms of purity?

Prabhupāda: Just like I do not know where this pathway goes. But you show me, “This way.” So without faith, how can I go? If I have no faith, then I cannot move even an inch. I believe, “Yes, he is all right. Let me go.” This is faith. I do not know whether it is going, which way it is going. So without faith, you cannot move an inch. So faith must be there, either it is true or blind.

Yadubara: So everyone has faith.

Prabhupāda: Yes, everyone has. Therefore the direction should be taken from the perfect, and with faith you will make progress.

Nārāyaṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, but Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that wherever one puts their faith, He gives them the steadiness to worship in that way. So how come so many people, they put their faith in all these false gurus or people that impose themself as ones who are in knowledge and then they become fooled? Is this previous activities? Sinful activities?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Jayādvaita: You explained that in your lecture yesterday, that Kṛṣṇa is in the heart and He is giving direction to remember or to forget, that sometimes He is directing to remember Him, sometimes to forget Him.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because if you have no faith, then Kṛṣṇa will not give you instruction. When he is faithless, he will not make progress. Stops.

Nārāyaṇa: But people are putting their faith in so many different places.

Prabhupāda: “So many” means he has no faith in anything.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: As soon as you say, “so many,” that means he has no faith. He is faithless.

..” Because if you have no faith, then Kṛṣṇa will not give you instruction. When he is faithless, he will not make progress. Stops.”

In this connection about not receiving instruction from the Lord, he says elsewhere…..

 SB 1.13.27 purport…

One who desires material benefit by such devotional activities can never depend on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He sits in everyone’s heart. Nor does the Lord give any direction to persons who worship Him for material gain. Such materialistic devotees may be blessed by the Lord with material benefits, but they cannot reach the stage of the first-class human being, as above mentioned.

Madhya 19.157 purport…

The first business of a Vaiṣṇava is to give up the company of nondevotees. A so-called mature devotee, however, commits a great offense by giving up the company of pure devotees. The living entity is a social animal, and if one gives up the society of pure devotees, he must associate with nondevotees (asat-saṅga). By contacting nondevotees and engaging in nondevotional activities, a so-called mature devotee will fall victim to the mad elephant offense. Whatever growth has taken place is quickly uprooted by such an offense. One should therefore be very careful to defend the creeper by fencing it in-that is, by following the regulative principles and associating with pure devotees.

If one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Society, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master. However, unless one follows the spiritual master’s instructions and the regulative principles governing chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord, one cannot become a pure devotee. By one’s mental concoctions, one falls down. By associating with nondevotees, one breaks the regulative principles and is thereby lost.