The Criticality of zraddhA: Giving Up Karma

tAvat karmANi kurvIta na nirvidyeta yAvatA |
mat-kathA-zravaNAdau vA zraddhA yAvan na jAyate || (SB 11.20.9)

On the strength of the above verse, how easy is it to give up nitya-naimittikAdi karmas !

But there is another warning-

zruti-smRtI mamaivAjJe yas te ullaGghya vartate |
AjJA-cchedI mama dveSI mad-bhakto’pi na vaiSNavaH ||

The Lord anticipates such human behaviour based on laziness and carelessness and warns that such people are not vaiSNavas even if they are my bhaktas ! "AjJA-cchedI mama dveSI mad-bhakto’pi na vaiSNavaH"; what use of words !

zraddhA does not mean faith. If one thinks that one can give up his kula-dharma, jAti-dharma etc on the basis of "faith", it would actually be counter productive and is bound to take one away from God rather than towards Him.

Sraddha

zraddhävän labhate jnänam tat-paraH saMyatendriyaH |
jnänam labdhvä paräm zäntim acireNädhigacchati ||4.39||

Having zästrIya zraddhä and being fixed in doing niSkäma-karma, on attaining control of the senses one obtains jnäna. Having obtained jnäna, he very quickly attains supreme peace. That is to say, his fetters of worldly existence get destroyed. [Real niSkäma-karma can happen only in bhakti and not otherwise. Without bhakti, niSkäma-karma is bound to have hidden motives and thus is more dangerous than sakäma-karma. Jnäna means knowing satya as satya and asatya as asatya while ajnäna is the opposite, i.e. knowing asatya as satya and satya as asatya. This jnäna can be obtained only through zästrIya zraddhä, which is the seed of bhakti, the harvest of the scriptures.

satäm prasangänmama vIrya-saMvido
bhavanti hRt-karNa-rasäyanäH kathäH |
taj-joSaNäd-äzvapavarga-vartmani
zraddhä ratir-bhaktiranukramizyati || [ZrImad-Bhägavatam 3.25.25]

“Due to proper, distinguished association with sädhus , narrations that reveal My splendour and beauty and give bliss to the ears and the heart take place and because of hearing such narrations with attachment, zraddhä, rati and bhakti to Me occur very quickly and sequentially, this being the path which leads to the cessation of ignorance.”]

(Excerpt from "Means to Attain Bhagavan")

While everyone focusses on jnAna, bhakti etc, the seed for both of them is zraddhA. That is why rUpa gosvAmi writes "Adau zraddhA". If there is no zraddhA, there can be no bhakti and therefore, no jnAna.