# It Is the Duty of the Devotee to Preach *Every devotee, following Lord Caitanya's order, must accept the duty to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.* ← Back to [[wiki/compile/preaching-is-the-essence|Preaching Is the Essence]] --- ## Lord Caitanya's Order to Preach ### It is the duty of every disciple to preach ![[cc/madhya/16/64#purport|Spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission; therefore His sincere devotees must carry out His desire...It is the duty of every disciple to carry out the order of the bona fide spiritual master and spread Lord Caitanya's message all over the world]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/16/64|Madhya 16.64]] Purport --- ### Lord Caitanya's order: become a guru and liberate everyone ![[cc/madhya/7/128|Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/7/128|Madhya 7.128]] --- ### Lord Caitanya orders that all accept and distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness ![[cc/adi/9/36|I am the only gardener. How many places can I go? How many fruits can I pick and distribute?...Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere]] —Cc. [[cc/adi/9/36|Ādi 9.32-39]] --- ### Lord Caitanya instructs everyone to preach ![[sb/8/1/16#purport|In this Age of Kali, people cannot follow the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore the Lord Himself takes the part of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya to teach personally how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. He asks everyone to follow Him and to become a guru to deliver the fallen souls of Kali-yuga]] —SB [[sb/8/1/16|8.1.16]] Purport --- ### A devotee must carry out the order of the Lord and preach ![[sb/9/11/25#purport|A devotee must carry out the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa. Every devotee, therefore, should spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness by preaching, asking whomever he meets to accept the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead]] —SB [[sb/9/11/25|9.11.25]] Purport --- ## The Devotee's Duty to Preach ### A devotee who tries to preach is first class ![[sb/4/17/26#purport|As far as the field of spiritual activities is concerned, when a devotee is self-satisfied and does not preach the glories of Kṛṣṇa, he is not considered a first-class devotee. A devotee who tries to preach, who has compassion upon innocent persons who have no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, is a superior devotee]] —SB [[sb/4/17/26|4.17.26]] Purport --- ### Devotees should rise from the neophyte stage to the preaching platform ![[cc/madhya/24/205#purport|Those who are active in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should not remain in the neophyte stage but should rise to the platform of preachers, the second platform of devotional service. Devotional service is so enchanting that even the first-class devotees (uttama-adhikārīs) also come down to the second platform to preach and render service to the Lord for the benefit of the whole world]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/24/205|Madhya 24.205]] Purport --- ### The devotee's interest is to actively preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness ![[sb/7/9/44#purport|He [the devotee] is not interested in so-called meditation in the Himalayas or the forest. Rather, his interest is in the busiest part of the world, where he teaches people Kṛṣṇa consciousness...The members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are not at all interested in so-called meditation in the Himalayas or the forest]] —SB [[sb/7/9/44|7.9.44]] Purport --- ### After being saved, the devotee should preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness ![[cc/madhya/7/148#purport|Although Vāsudeva Vipra was a leper and had suffered greatly, still Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu cured him. The only return the Lord wanted was that Vāsudeva preach the instructions of Kṛṣṇa and liberate all human beings. That is the process of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/7/148|Madhya 7.148]] Purport --- ### All devotees must preach ![[cc/madhya/7/153#purport|When a person actually revives his consciousness with thoughts of Kṛṣṇa by the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he revives his spiritual life and becomes addicted to the service of the Lord. Only then can he act as an ācārya. In other words, everyone should engage in preaching, following in the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/7/153|Madhya 7.153]] Purport --- ### The devotee must preach; this will help him advance in self-realization > In this verse the word *dayā jīveṣu,* meaning mercy to other living entities, indicates that a living entity must be merciful to other living entities if he wishes to make progress in self-realization. This means he must preach this knowledge after perfecting himself and understanding his own position as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Preaching this is showing real mercy to living entities. —SB 4.29.1b Purport --- ## Preaching All Over the World ### Lord Caitanya wants His followers to preach all over the world ![[sb/4/30/37#purport|Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted His followers to move all over the world and preach in every town and village. In the Caitanya-sampradāya those who strictly follow the principles of Lord Caitanya must travel all over the world to preach the message of Lord Caitanya]] —SB [[sb/4/30/37|4.30.37]] Purport --- ### The duty of the devotee is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the benefit of those suffering ![[sb/7/7/53#purport|The duty of all devotees is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness everywhere all over the world, because all living entities without Kṛṣṇa consciousness are suffering the pangs of material existence. To preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the best welfare activity. Indeed, it is described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as para-upakāra, work for the true benefit of others]] —SB [[sb/7/7/53|7.7.53]] Purport --- ### Lord Caitanya personally demonstrated the importance of preaching ![[cc/madhya/25/264#purport|Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally traveled to different regions of India to spread the bhakti cult throughout the country...A Vaiṣṇava is especially interested in para-upakāra, doing good to others...The followers of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu may therefore take this movement seriously and broadcast it throughout the world, from village to village and from town to town]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/25/264|Madhya 25.264]] Purport --- ### Devotees must preach all over the world, as ordered by the spiritual master ![[cc/antya/4/144#purport|Everyone in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's devotional cult should accept the words of the spiritual master and thus spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. They should go everywhere, to all parts of the world, accepting those places as prabhu-datta deśa, the places of residence given by the spiritual master or Lord Kṛṣṇa]] —Cc. [[cc/antya/4/144|Antya 4.144]] Purport --- ## The Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement Is Based on Preaching ### The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and making others Kṛṣṇa conscious ![[cc/adi/7/92#purport|the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on the principle that one should become as perfect as possible in devotional service oneself and also preach the cult for others' benefit]] —Cc. [[cc/adi/7/92|Ādi 7.92]] Purport --- ### An advanced and empowered devotee preaches ![[cc/adi/7/92#purport|A person who has attracted the attention of the spiritual master by his sincere service likes to dance and chant with similarly developed Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees. The spiritual master authorizes such a devotee to deliver fallen souls in all parts of the world...everyone should endeavor to preach the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in all parts of the world]] —Cc. [[cc/adi/7/92|Ādi 7.92]] Purport --- ### The greatest service is preaching; a Vaiṣṇava is recognized by his preaching work ![[cc/madhya/20/6#purport|The greatest service one can render to the Lord is to try to infuse devotional service into the heart of the conditioned soul so that the conditioned soul may be released from conditional life. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said that a Vaiṣṇava is recognized by his preaching work]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/20/6|Madhya 20.6]] Purport --- ### The test of a Vaiṣṇava is how many Vaiṣṇavas he has made ![[cc/madhya/24/277#purport|Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that the position of a Vaiṣṇava can be tested by seeing how good a touchstone he is—that is, by seeing how many Vaiṣṇavas he has made during his life. A Vaiṣṇava should be a touchstone so that he can convert others to Vaiṣṇavism by his preaching]] —Cc. [[cc/madhya/24/277|Madhya 24.277]] Purport --- ### Performing daily rituals is not enough—one must preach ![[sb/2/8/21#purport|The favorable conditions for discharging devotional service are that one should be very enthusiastic in serving the Lord...Every devotee should be very enthusiastic, not only in performing his daily rituals of devotional service, but in trying to preach the cult peacefully by following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya]] —SB [[sb/2/8/21|2.8.21]] Purport --- ## Various Duties of the Preacher ### Preachers go door to door to enlighten the people in general ![[sb/5/14/39#purport|The preachers of Kṛṣṇa consciousness go from door to door to inform people how they can be relieved from the miserable conditions of material life]] —SB [[sb/5/14/39|5.14.39]] Purport --- ### The duty of all sane men is to save the people in general ![[sb/6/1/6#purport|Intelligent men must take advantage of these instructions. Unfortunately, however, the entire world is lacking Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and therefore people are suffering from the grossest ignorance and do not even believe in a life after this one...Nevertheless, our duty, the duty of all sane men, is to save them]] —SB [[sb/6/1/6|6.1.6]] Purport --- ### Followers of Lord Nityānanda must preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness ![[cc/antya/3/148#purport|Lord Kṛṣṇa appears in every millennium for two purposes, namely to deliver the devotees and kill the nondevotees. His devotees also have two similar purposes—to preach the bhakti cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and defeat all kinds of agnostics and atheists]] —Cc. [[cc/antya/3/148|Antya 3.148-149]] Purport --- ### One should preach; that is real nonviolence > Nonviolence is generally taken to mean not killing or destroying the body, but actually nonviolence means not to put others into distress. People in general are trapped by ignorance in the material concept of life, and they perpetually suffer material pains. So, unless one elevates people to spiritual knowledge, one is practicing violence. One should try his best to distribute real knowledge to the people, so that they may become enlightened and leave this material entanglement. That is nonviolence. —Bg. 13.8-12 Purport --- ### In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, all our activities are concentrated on book distribution ![[sb/10/2/37#purport|The word kriyāsu, meaning "by manual labor" or "by work," is important in this verse. One should engage in practical service to the Lord. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all our activities are concentrated upon distributing Kṛṣṇa literature. This is very important...Such activities will always remind the devotees of the Lord's lotus feet. By fully concentrating on distributing books for Kṛṣṇa, one is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. This is samādhi]] —SB [[sb/10/2/37|10.2.37]] Purport --- ### Contrary to the order of Lord Caitanya, some of His modern so-called followers do not preach ![[cc/adi/9/47#purport|It is the desire of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that the benevolent activities of the saṅkīrtana movement which was inaugurated five hundred years ago in Navadvīpa be spread all over the world for the benefit of all human beings. Unfortunately, there are many so-called followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu who are satisfied simply to construct a temple, make a show of the Deities, collect some funds and utilize them for eating and sleeping. There is no question of their preaching the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world]] —Cc. [[cc/adi/9/47|Ādi 9.47]] Purport