Devotion without humility is devotion without life. Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself explained how prema can be swiftly achieved through the practice of nāma:
ye rūpe loile nāma prema upajāya;
tāhāra lakṣaṇa śuno svarūpa rāma rāya
tṛṇād api sunīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā;
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
“Listen, oh Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya, how prema can swiftly be achieved:
One should chant the Holy Name of Lord Hari in a humble state of mind, being more humble than a blade of grass, as tolerant as a tree, giving all respect unto others and not expecting any honour for oneself.”
Therefore Śrī Caitanyadeva will be full of mercy for those who recite this aṣṭaka, which fulfills all desires, with humility and a humble heart, and will thrust such humble and pure-hearted reciters into the large and famous rasa-ocean of love for Kṛṣṇa.
Śrī Caitanyadeva is the embodiment of endless mercy and there has never been such a compassionate descension of God. Compassion culminates in giving of love of Kṛṣṇa. No one else but Mahāprabhu is giving this prema, which is difficult to attain even through the normal process of continuously hearing and chanting about the Lord, without considering who is worthy or unworthy.
Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has written:
pātrāpātra vicāranāṁ na kurute na svaṁ paraṁ vīkṣyate
deyādeya vimarṣako nahi na vā kāla pratīkṣaḥ prabhuḥ
sadyo yaḥ śravaṇekṣaṇe praṇamana dhyānādinā durlabhaṁ
datte bhakti-rasaṁ sa eva bhagavān gauraḥ paraṁ me gatiḥ
(Caitanya Candrāmṛta – 77)
“He does not consider who is worthy or unworthy, who is His own or who is an outsider, who it should be given to and who it shouldn’t be or whether the time is right or not. The Lord at once gives the flavour of devotion, which is difficult to attain even by hearing the glories of the Lord, seeing the Deity, offering obeisances, meditating, or other practices. That Lord Gaura is my only shelter!”
Mahāprabhu will thrust a humble and pure-hearted reciter of this stotra [Śrī Caitanyāṣṭakam, verse 9] in the vast and celebrated rasa-ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa, particularly the sweet love of Vraja and most particularly, the love of the mañjarīs for Śrī Rādhikā, which is known as the highest love in the kingdom of God, both in quality and in quantity.
How large the ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa is, is described in Caitanya Caritāmṛta:
śuddha prema sukha sindhu, pāya tāra eka bindu, sei bindu jagat ḍubāya.
“Just one drop from the blissful ocean of pure love of Kṛṣṇa can inundate the entire world”.
– Srila Ananta das Babaji
