Foreword - The great saint with whom you now have the fortune to walk, the personification of Lord Sri Krsna's divine mercy, is renowned throughout the world as Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja. His followers honor him with the shorter title of Srila Gurudeva, the honorific appellation given to all saintly, self-realized spiritual masters.
 
The meaning of 'Srila Gurudeva' is very significant. The Sanskrit word Srila means 'one who brings us Sri, the embodiment of the Lord's personal opulences;' gu means 'darkness;' ru means 'light;' and deva means 'godlike.' Srila Gurudeva is he who takes us from a world that is a dungeon of darkness and ignorance, and carries us to a world of effulgent transcendental knowledge and spiritual opulence. Since Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja accomplishes this beautifully,
 
we will hereafter refer to this supremely exalted saint as Srila Gurudeva.
The following true story from the ancient Vedic literatures was told by Srila Gurudeva in Badger, California, on May 19, 2004, during one of his world preaching tours. He narrated this history in order to emphasize the value of associating with saintly persons:
 
Once, the sages Visvamitra and Vasistha were quarrelling. Visvamitra told Vasistha, "You should address me as brahmarsi, because I have become an exalted, realized brahmana." Vasistha said, "I will address you as rajarsi, a saintly warrior, because you have come from a royal family." He refused to praise Visvamitra a a brahmarsi, because he considered that Visvamitra would become proud, which would not be beneficial for him.
 
Visvamitra then boasted that his performance of austerities was a great thing - greater than any other achievement. Vasistha disagreed. He insisted that sadhu-sanga, the association of saintly devotees of the Lord, was the greatest achievement.
 
They both approached Ananta Sesa, the serpent incarnation of the Lord on whose innumerable hoods millions of universes rest, and presented their case to him. Visvamitra asked him, "Please, you decide if it is Vasistha, or I, who is telling the truth. Am I greater than Vasistha or is Vasistha greater than me?"
 
Lord Ananta replied, "This topic is very deep and grave, but at present I am carrying the burden of all the universes upon my hoods. 0 Visvamitra, I am extremely tired. I want to rest one of my hoods. Please arrange that when I remove my hood, the universe will not even slightly move or fall from its position, and then I will answer you." Visvamitra responded, "Oh, that is a very insignificant task." To this end Visvamitra offered Lord Ananta the fruit of the entirety of his performances of yoga and austerities, but still he could not carry the burden of Ananta for even a moment. When Ananta began to remove his hood, there were severe earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters.
 
Ananta then turned to Vasistha and asked, "Can you take my burden?" Vasistha replied, "I am offering you the result of only half a moment of my association with saintly persons. If I have ever had any elevated Vaisnava association, may the universe remain calm."
 
Again Ananta went to remove his hood from beneath the universe, this time successfully. The universe remained calmly in its place, hovering in space without moving. Ananta said, "Visvamitra, by this I have given my answer, which is for you to ascertain. Vasistha offered me the result of taking sadhu-sanga for a mere half a moment, and that in itself fully freed me of the burden. You were unable to arrange that for me."
 
So, talking sadhu-sanga for even a fraction of a second can change your entire life and make you happy forever. Sadhu-sanga is also called mahat-sanga. Mahat means 'great,' so mahat-sanga means 'association with great saints.' Mahat-sanga gives the highest of all kinds of benedictions, including material religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, the attempt to become one with the Supreme. In fact, sadhu-sanga dances on the head of all these achievements.
In the same discourse, Srila Gurudeva shared with his audience another history, as follows:
 
There was once a murderer named Valmiki, who hunted and killed many brahmanas, rsis, and maharsis (elevated saints). By Valmiki's good fortune, one day he met Sri Narada Rsi, who was a transcendental touchstone. In other words, simply by Narada's touch, that murderer became a realized sage like Narada himsel