SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 9 Text 3
asraddadhanah purusa
dharmasyasya parantapa
aprapya mam nivartante
mrtyu-samsara-vartmani

asraddadhanah--those who are faithless; purusah--such persons; dharmasya--toward the process of religion; asya--this; parantapa--O killer of the enemies; aprapya--without obtaining; mam--Me; nivartante--come back; mrtyu--of death; samsara--in material existence; vartmani--on the path.

TRANSLATION

Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.

JOURNAL:

Srila Prabhupada's discussion on faith in this purport is wonderful! Here is an excerpt:

As far as the development of faith is concerned, one who is well versed in the literatures of devotional service and has attained the stage of firm faith is called a first-class person in Krsna consciousness. And in the second class are those who are not very advanced in understanding the devotional scriptures but who automatically have firm faith that krsna-bhakti, or service to Krsna, is the best course and so in good faith have taken it up. Thus they are superior to the third class, who have neither perfect knowledge of the scriptures nor good faith but by association and simplicity are trying to follow. The third-class person in Krsna consciousness may fall down, but when one is in the second class he does not fall down, and for the first-class person in Krsna consciousness there is no chance of falling down.

According to this description I am third class. I find it hard to get to the temple which is thirty miles away and mostly associate with devotees on line. My worship of Laddu Gopal is simple but consistent. On the other hand, I have a firm faith that service to Krishna (God) is the best path and is one of the teachings that all the major religions have in common.