Prabhupāda Instructs His Disciples That They Must Be Sincere and Serious
To be successful in spiritual life, a practitioner cannot rely on half-hearted efforts or superficial attachments. In his letters and lectures, Śrīla Prabhupāda repeatedly stresses that his disciples must be completely sincere and serious in their dedication. By maintaining strict purity, immense enthusiasm, and tolerance, devotees guarantee their safe passage back to Godhead and attract the mercy of the Lord.
Maintaining Strict Purity
The spiritual realm is a place of absolute purity, and one cannot enter it with material contamination. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda warns that practitioners must be vigilant in avoiding sinful activities and following the regulative principles. If a disciple allows themselves to be distracted by māyā, they will lose their spiritual strength. To associate with the Supreme Lord, one must become fire-like in their devotion and remain clean both inside and out.
- Dishonest men cannot go to back to home, back to Godhead. That is false. God is pure. One must be very, very pure. A thing which is not fire, it cannot be allowed to enter into the fire. One must become fire; then there is no trouble. Fire can enter fire.
- If you commit sinful activities willingly, daily, then you'll be punished. That is laws of nature. Even if you are bhakta. You'll be given chance, but you'll have to be punished. So therefore we must be very careful.
- We must always be careful to render firstly our routine devotional practices, and maintain always the highest standards of chanting, preaching, temple worship, rising early, cleansing, street sankirtana, etc.
- To become brahmana one must be clean outside and inside. Outside by regularly bathing and inside by always chanting Hare Krishna.
- We shall not allow us to fall down, but even if we fall down, there is no loss. But that does not mean I shall be slack and allow me to fall down. Yes. We must be very serious. That should be our motto.
The Necessity of Enthusiastic Preaching
Spreading the saṅkīrtana movement requires immense energy and absolute conviction. Whenever giving instruction on the preaching mission, Śrīla Prabhupāda makes it clear that his followers must be enthusiastic and brave soldiers. Preachers cannot compromise with atheistic philosophies; they must boldly present the absolute truth. It is this enthusiastic spirit that empowers the society to distribute transcendental knowledge to the entire world.
- Fight like brave soldiers, Krsna will help you. Don't make any compromise. No truce with these demons. Fight must be. Our fighting weapon is Hare Krsna movement. That's all. Sangopangastra-parsadam. Astra. That astra is yajnaih sankirtana.
- I (Prabhupada) have worked alone, now you are so many. Our scope is unlimited, resources unlimited, so we must be exceptionally enthusiastic and sober-minded and responsible for working in that spirit.
- People in general, they cannot understand, but those who are preaching, they must be very sincere, the same way, rupa-raghunatha pade, haibe akuti. They should read the literatures, the instruction, just like Upadesamrta.
- You must be very enthusiastic that "I shall preach the glories of the Lord to my best capacity." It is not that one has to become very learned scholar to become a preacher. Simply it requires enthusiasm.
Ideal Behavior and Tolerance
The character of a devotee is the greatest advertisement for the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Recognizing this, Śrīla Prabhupāda insists that his disciples must be tolerant like a tree and humble like a blade of grass when dealing with others. Whether managing a temple or interacting with the public, one must be completely careful to avoid scandalous behavior. A true Vaiṣṇava must be faultless and peaceful to earn the respect of society.
- A leader must be peaceful, self-controlled, austere, pure, tolerant, honest, wise, learned and religious.
- We must be tolerant like the tree and humble like the blade of grass. Such persons can chant the Hare Krishna mantra and preach.
- We must be very careful to avoid anything scandalous in our dealings, and always keep to the highest standards of respect and courtesy.
- I know you are always experiencing difficulties in living with devotees, but we must be tolerant and endure the personal differences, being humbler than a blade of grass, and stick to our duties to the spiritual master.
Complete Dependence on Sincerity
Spiritual advancement does not depend on high academic degrees, massive wealth, or social prestige. In his comforting instructions, Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that the only real qualification a disciple must have is unflinching sincerity. If a devotee simply desires to serve the Lord without any ulterior motives, Kṛṣṇa will provide all the necessary intelligence from within. Therefore, we must be serious in our purpose, trusting that the Supreme Lord accepts the sincere endeavor of His servant.
- If you keep your heart in that attitude, that you want to become a pure and sincere devotee, you must be a sincere devotee. And Krishna will help you. You have to keep your heart in that way, that is your business.
- Simply we, the workers, the servitors, must be very sincere. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu will give us more and more facilities so that we can work very well. So keep this mission always in view and do your best. That is my only request.
- Your sincerity will be accepted by Krishna and He will give you intelligence from within. Simply we must be sincere, then everything else will follow automatically.
- We want to see good result. Even there is no good result, we don't mind. We must be sincere to Krsna that "We have done our best." That's all. Without cheating Krsna.
Strict Adherence to the Spiritual Master
There is no success in spiritual life without the guidance and blessings of a bona fide guru. To make actual progress, Śrīla Prabhupāda reminds his followers that they must be firmly faithful to the instructions they have received. A disciple cannot be whimsical or independent; they must be ready to execute the order of the spiritual master with their life and soul. By remaining completely obedient to this divine authority, one is guaranteed to cross over the ocean of material existence.
- Not that let me take a spiritual master as a pet and I can do whatever I want. No, one must be prepared to follow the order of the spiritual master with life and soul.
- If there is any doubt, that "I cannot accept his words verbatim," then one should not accept him as spiritual master. That is hypocrisy. One must be first of all convinced.
- Sri-guru-carane rati, ei se, uttama-gati. If you want to make real progress, then you must be firmly faithful at the lotus feet of guru.
- Srila Prabhupada reiterates that all GBC must strictly follow the rules and regulations and do what Srila Prabhupada does. We must be the strict prototypes of Srila Prabhupada. We must be pure by preaching and chanting.
Conclusion
The path of bhakti-yoga requires a practitioner to be entirely dedicated and focused on the ultimate goal. By examining these instructions, it is evident that Śrīla Prabhupāda expects his disciples to be much more than passive participants. They must be pure, tolerant, enthusiastic, and fiercely loyal to the paramparā. When devotees actually embody these vital qualities, they become empowered instruments for spreading the absolute truth.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category We Must Be (Disciples of SP). We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.