Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3.29.17

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Translation

 

"The pure devotee should execute devotional service by giving the

greatest respect to the spiritual master and the acaryas. He should be

compassionate to the poor and make friendship with persons who are his equals,

but all his activities should be executed under regulation and with control

of the senses."

 

Purport

 

"In Bhagavad-gita, Thirteenth Chapter, it is clearly stated that

one should execute devotional service and advance on the path of spiritual

knowledge by accepting the acarya. Acaryopasanam: one should worship an

acarya, a spiritual master who knows things as they are. The spiritual master

must be in the disciplic succession from Krsna. The predecessors of the

spiritual master are his spiritual master, his grand spiritual master, his

great-grand spiritual master and so on, who form the disciplic succession of

acaryas. It is recommended herewith that all the acaryas be given the

highest respect. It is stated, gurusu nara-matih. Gurusu means unto the

acaryas, and nara-matih means thinking like a common man. To think of the

Vaisnavas, the devotees, as belonging to a particular caste or community, to

think of the acaryas as ordinary men or to think of the Deity in the

temple as being made of stone, wood or metal, is condemned. Niyamena: one

should offer the greatest respect to the acaryas according to the standard

regulations. A devotee should also be compassionate to the poor. This does

not refer to those who are poverty-stricken materially. According to

devotional vision, a man is poor if he is not in Krsna consciousness. A

man may be very rich materially, but if he is not Krsna conscious, he is

considered poor. On the other hand, many acaryas, such as Rupa Gosvami and

Santana Gosvami, used to live beneath trees every night. Superficially it

appeared that they were poverty-stricken, but from their writings we can

understand that in spiritual life they were the richest personalities.

 

"A devotee shows compassion to those poor souls who are wanting in

spiritual knowledge by enlightening them in order to elevate them to Ka

consciousness. That is one of the duties of a devotee. He should also make

friendship with persons who are on an equal level with himself or who have

the same understanding that he does. For a devotee, there is no point in

making friendships with ordinary persons; he should make friendship with

other devotees so that by discussing among themselves, they may elevate

one another on the path of spiritual understanding. This is called

ista-gosthi.

 

"In Bhagavad-gita there is reference to bodhayantah parasparam,

"discussing among themselves." Generally pure devotees utilize their

valuable time in chanting and discussing various activities of Lord Krsna

or Lord Caitanya amongst themselves. There are innumerable books, such as

the puranas,Mahabharata, Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita and Upanisads, which contain

countless subjects for discussion among two devotees or more. Friendship

should be cemented between persons with mutual interests and understanding.

Such persons are said to be sva jati, "of the same caste." The devotee

should avoid a person whose character is not fixed in the standard

understanding; even though he may be a Vaisnava, or a devotee of Krsna, if

his character is not correctly representative, then he should be avoided.

One should steadily control the senses and the mind and strictly follow the

rules and regulations, and he should make friendship with persons of the

same standard."