Bhakti is a process that begins with a broad base and then culminates at a narrow point. This is explained in the following manner. When a person takes to Krishna Bhajana seriously, initially one is not clear of the nuances of Bhakti. As the devotee embarks on a new journey, he is yet within the grip of his mundane consciousness. Although he takes up to various activities in the service of Krishna, he continues with his mundane habits. His Bhakti being immature, he does not have a thorough understanding of what is favourable and what is unfavourable to Bhajana. Although he visits sadhus, his attraction to things mundane continues with little change. Hence his spectrum of activities will also be broad. He may watch movies, eat in restaurants, mix with friends who smoke and booze (he may although refrain from such activities), engage in gossip and in the same breath give time for Krishna Bhajana. Thus in the beginning days of his Bhajana, the person operates on a non-conservative broader space.
However when one accepts the shelter of a spiritual master, one needs to be careful and conscious of his activities. A person in Krishna Bhajana should refrain from interacting with mundane people and focus on things favourable to Bhajana. His interaction with people who are averse to Bhajana has to be consciously brought to an end. Otherwise the sinful effects of such interaction will destroy all good fortune. There are various institutions that train an individual with the pre-requisites of Krishna Bhajana. One can safely interact with devotees who are committed to Krishna Bhajana and consciously weed out activities that do not support Krishna Bhajana. Thus the broader space of activities starts getting constricted considerably when one associates with devotees. However we should have our vision fixed on the Prayojana or the highest objective of attaining Krishna Prema. Here it is seen that even this constricted approach of associating with different categories of people within the Bhajana framework does not go a long way. We may identify Krishna devotees under 3 categories namely kanishtha, madhyam and uttama devotees. Kanishtha devotees are devotees who have not yet attained steadfastness in Krishna Bhajana. Madhyam Devotees are excellent devotees and have attained steadfastness in devotional service and they are capable of infusing the aspects of Krishna Bhajana into others. Uttama devotees however are the best, they have attained the highest platform of Krishna Prema and they view the entire world with equal vision and see the presence of Krishna everywhere. However it is very evident that one will only find kanishtha devotees generally in such institutions, who normally engage in social Krishna festivals; being socially active. For Krishna Prema one should avoid even this company and one has to only and only associate with Uttama devotees if one is interested in attaining Krishna Prema.
Such Uttama devotees are not easily accessible in cities and social gatherings. These 
are rarely accessible and can be found doing Ekanta Bhajana (Solitary Bhajana) in the Dhama. If one is very serious in progressing, one should interact with these uttama devotees and through their association become fortunate. Thus one has to narrow one’s association base in order to gain the highest ideal. Even among various limbs of devotional activities like Shravanam, Kirtanam, Vigraha Seva, reading of Literature, Smaranam , one should restrict one’s activity spectrum to either just one or two activities and consistently perform those limited set of devotional activities throughout the day under the guidance of an elevated master, ideally one’s Sadhguru. One should restrict one’s free movement within society and focus on going inward rather than trying to establish devotee connections. The narrower our devotional movement spectrum becomes the more pronounced will be the results. Ideally one should , at a higher level of maturity in Bhajana get simply attached to Chanting of Deeksha mantras , Harinama , Reading of Rasa Shastra as recommended by Uttama devotees and interacting only with the Spiritual master and Vaishnavas of his class. All other activities should be weeded out from one’s daily time-table. Thus Narrower the path within the Bhakti ambit, surer is the possibility of attaining Krishna Prema in this very life-time.
Charan Pahari 