Primary Qualities of Devotee

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
3 January 2019, part 7

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told his disciples a very nice thing. He said, "I will not keep a single rupee for you for future. If I keep money, you will become lazy and not practise properly."

That is why I am telling you that you should go preaching door to door—collect people, collect what is necessary for preaching, collect money, etc. You can do whatever is necessary for the service to Krishna, to the Lord. If somebody steals or robs for himself, reaction will come to them for that, but Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave an example of alwar dacoits, you may have heard about them—they did not get any karma, reaction because they stole for Krishna—the service they did went to Krishna. In this way, for the service of the Lord you can do anything.

You can see also the example of Vraja gopis—they were giving their feet dust to Krishna. Even Narad Muni said, "What are you doing?! You will go to hell!" but they said, "We can go to hell, our legs can be burnt or get leprosy, it is not problem. If it makes our Krishna happy, we will give our feet dust."

This feeling must come, "If some unhappiness or some problem comes through my service to Krishna, that is my happiness."

So, Prabhupad said, "I will not leave a single rupee for you. For preaching, you can take a loan, then to pay the loan, you will have to go door to door. Sometimes, householder people will not be happy when you go to collect, they will throw you out, but at that time you will learn tolerance, humility, giving honour to others." Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also said that if you go door to door but you do not practise properly, householder people will not give even one rupee to you. That is why you must practise properly, behave properly—you must become a devotee. 'Devotee' means following Mahaprabhu's teaching:

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.239)

Be humble, tolerant and give honour to others. If you think that you have become a great Vaishnav, that is not a devotee's quality. Vraja gopis say, "We do not have any devotion like that of Prahlad Maharaj." If you think you are becoming a great sannyasi or a great Vaishnav, that is not vaishnava-ta (a quality of a Vaishnav). Even Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "I do not have even a trace of Krishna-prem. I only aspire to become a servant..." Uddhav Maharaj also said, "If I can become some foot dust of the Vraja gopis, that is sufficient for me. I do not want to be anything more than that."

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that many people may renounce kanak (money) and kamini (women), but it is very difficult to give up pratistha (name and fame). So, if somebody thinks, "I am becoming a great Vaishnav, I am becoming a great sannyasi," this is not vaishnava-ta, that is not a devotee's quality.

And another thing Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told is that if somebody comes to Krishna consciousness thinking, "Oh, I will get some result! I will get something!"—that is also a desire, that is also not good. We come to Krishna consciousness to please the Lord, to please Gurudev—not to please ourselves. This is the main thing. You must please Lord Krishna—please your Guru, the Vaishnavs and Bhagavan.

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