# A Devotee’s Vision ## 1. Do we really need to be introspective? We have to give up external vision, the vision of material enjoyment and material forms, and become introspective. Until we become introspective, we will continue to depend on external vision. External vision is illusory. If we are eager to know the contents of a letter, we show no patience when looking at the envelope. If we see objects in this material world as ingredients only for the Lord’s service, we will no longer have external vision. The Supreme Lord is situated everywhere in this world. He is situated in the hearts of all living entities. “The Lord is always situated in the temple of my heart just to give me the opportunity to serve Him.” When this conviction becomes prominent in our minds, then according to the logic, “A learned person sees everyone equally. Therefore I can perceive my worshipable Lord everywhere,” we will find our external, inferior, worldly vision cleared. At that time, I will consider the entire world full of happiness. ## 2. Can we save ourselves? “I will protect myself”: this is what a nondevotee demon thinks. This concept will certainly get us into trouble. Instead, devotees know that Kṛṣṇa is their protector. Why should we be afraid? We should maintain this understanding taught by the great devotee, Prahlāda. As soon as we become indifferent to hari-kathā and become less dependent on the Lord, we will become captured by various sinful motives and false ego. Then we will be in danger. ## 3. How should we treat the material world? We should see this material world and everything in it as full of ingredients for the Lord’s service. Everything in this world is meant for Kṛṣṇa’s service. The day when we can look at the world like this and become liberated from the material conception, we will be able to see the material world as the spiritual world, Goloka. We should treat all women as Kṛṣṇa’s beloveds. They are to be enjoyed by Him. Do not look at them with an enjoying spirit. They are meant to be enjoyed by Kṛṣṇa, never by the living entities. Treat your father and mother as Kṛṣṇa’s father and mother. Instead of considering your children your servants, treat them as friends of child Kṛṣṇa. Then you will not see the material world everywhere but Goloka. ## 4. What is a pure devotee’s mentality? A pure devotee sees that nothing is meant for his own enjoyment. All animate and inanimate objects are meant for the Lord’s service. Therefore all our activities should be directed toward His unalloyed service. Śāstra states: sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam, hṛṣīkeṣa hṛṣīkeṇa sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate: “Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 19.170) All our services must target Him only. All our senses should be engaged in the service of the master of the senses. All are servitors of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we shall not deprive them of their service. Let all of them offer their services to Kṛṣṇa. Let us pray, “May the Supreme Lord accept our service.” If we use the bricks for our own house, then there will be problems, but if we use the bricks to build a temple for the Lord, we will be happy and blessed. The proper use of inanimate objects is to engage them in the Lord’s service, and if they are engaged in satisfying the living entities’ senses, then we are misusing or exploiting them. We should direct our senses to serve Kṛṣṇa. All objects are really the Lord’s property. They are not meant for the pleasure of conditioned souls. It is wrong and misguided to think that everything we see has been created for us. Nothing is meant for our sensuous enjoyment. Everything should be properly adjusted for service to God. If all this world’s inanimate objects are engaged in Hari’s service, then their purpose is served. For example, these bamboos here—if they are used to arrange a stage for propagating hari-kathā, then they have been properly utilized. We use these things for the service of Hari and His devotees. All the Vaiṣṇava’s activities are aimed at pleasing the Supreme Lord, the spiritual master, and the other Vaiṣṇavas. A true devotee does not do anything for his sensuous enjoyment. A pure devotee does not do anything for himself or his relatives. Whatever he does, he does for the Absolute. He is always true to the Supreme Lord’s service. ## 5. What should be the mentality of a householder devotee? A householder devotee must remember that his house belongs to Kṛṣṇa and he himself is a pet dog that Kṛṣṇa maintains. Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, “O Lord! I do not know what is good and what is bad. I simply engage in Your service. I guard objects that belong to You.” One should serve Kṛṣṇa with all that he possesses, knowing well that Kṛṣṇa is the master of his household. Materialists who are attached to the house do not consider Lord Hari and the spiritual master worshipable. They see the spiritual master and the Lord’s Deity form as ordinary objects. Only those who can offer everything to Kṛṣṇa by giving up material attachment are able to chant Kṛṣṇa’s holy name. Chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is not possible unless one gives up attachment for family life and offers everything in Kṛṣṇa’s service. ## 6. Is every devotee worshipable? Who protects the devotees? If any rich or powerful person attacks an akiṅcana devotee, Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva will certainly take care of the devotee. Only those among the higher and lower castes in society who have taken shelter of the Lord’s devotional service are proper candidates for our spiritual respect and adoration. To consider that a Vaiṣṇava belongs to a particular class is offensive. ## 7. What is the mentality of a devotee? A liberated soul does not desire liberation. The devotees are liberated souls. Therefore they do not desire religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, or liberation. Devotional service is full of happiness. Everything else is devoid of happiness. Thus only a devotee is actually happy, whereas everyone else is distressed and disturbed. Because there is no devotion in the activities of karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, bhogīs, and tyāgīs, all of them are restless. Materialists think, “Let me be happy and let others suffer,” whereas those walking the unalloyed devotional path think, “Let us perform hari-kīrtana together twenty-four hours a day without cheating anyone.” The path of unalloyed devotion requires no mixes, because chanting the holy name is an infallible weapon. First one hears through the ears, then gradually one finds the other senses favorably engaged. At that point one becomes qualified to see the form, qualities, pastimes, characteristics, and associates of the Lord. According to this consideration the devotees gradually make advancement on the path of devotional service. ## 8. What is the mentality of a surrendered soul? Unalloyed devotees of the Lord accept all the Lord’s arrangements without argument. Displaying impatience about the Lord’s arrangements proves that one lacks faith and desires material enjoyment. Devotees are not concerned whether the Lord’s mercy seems like punishment, cruelty, or wealth because they are fully surrendered to the Lord. No amount of material inconvenience can distract them from their surrender or from accepting the Lord as their maintainer. The Lord is the ultimate seer of everything; but various obstacles impede the vision of the conditioned souls. By expressing displeasure at or restlessness with the Lord’s arrangements, one certainly invites inauspiciousness. The surrendered devotees have no concept other than to engage constantly in Lord Hari’s service by being pleased to accept the Lord’s arrangements. ## 9. What is the mentality of a Vaiṣṇava? A devotee of Viṣṇu considers neither his spiritual master nor his disciples to be objects of his own sense enjoyment. He is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s service under his guru’s guidance and is pleased to engage everything in his Lord’s service. A sincere disciple has no desire for sense gratification. He is concerned only with serving his spiritual master. If a disciple does possess the desire for sense gratification, it can be assumed that he is not fully serving the spiritual master. In his commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.28.34, jagad-guru Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura writes, regarding the ideal of service to the spiritual master: gūro sevāyaṁśisya śravaṇa kirtanāt anyapi bhogān taduthān premānandān api gāhān taducit vivikta sthalaṁ api naivā pekṣat.śrī guru sevaiva sukhen sarva sādhya siddharthaṁ iti upadeśo vyanjita A disciple who is engaged in the service of his spiritual master does not mind sacrificing the happiness he derives from hearing and chanting about the Lord. In other words, he does not care about his own solitary bhajana, because he knows that simply by serving his spiritual master he will easily attain all perfection. ## 10. How does a devotee see the material world? An exalted devotee sees the material world as the Lord’s mercy. Mercy, compassion, is worshipable. It is not possible to surpass the Lord’s compassion. If one sees this material world, which is meant for the Lord’s enjoyment, or the personification of the Lord’s mercy in the spirit of enjoyment, one will certainly be punished. ## 11. What mentality should a devotee maintain? The Keṇa Upaniṣad states that having received specific powers from the omnipotent Supreme Lord, the demigods perform their respective duties. When that power is withdrawn, the demigods lost their potency. Devotees who follow in Śrī Rūpa’s footsteps rather than placing faith in themselves attribute all glories to their source. We do everything for the pleasure of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Rūpa, Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and our spiritual master. As soon as we give up the path of devotional service, the path of subordination to Kṛṣṇa, false ego and illusion swallow us. ## 12. Do the devotees practice worldly morality? Actual devotees of Kṛṣṇa never encourage immorality. The lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the personification of religion, are the complete resting place of all morality. The highest form of morality for a spirit soul is to become attached to the Supersoul. The devotees of Kṛṣṇa are the ultimate limit of this pure attachment. Being perfected and increased millions of times, the topmost morality preached by the great soul Jesus Christ is anxiously waiting to serve the morality of love of God as cultivated by the Vaiṣṇavas. We do not confine our conception only to worldly morality. Our ambition is to attain the morality of transcendental love of God, which is the ultimate goal of everyone’s life and which is beyond all forms of ordinary and extraordinary morality. When a pure soul is situated on the transcendental platform of love of God, worldly morality appears insignificant. At the same time, devotees are neither opposed nor attached to worldly morality. Rather, all forms of morality stand in attendance on spiritual morality, just as a maidservant becomes glorious by serving an exalted personality. An exalted devotee is always moral. People opposed to morality or who have fallen from the standard can never be considered transcendentalists. Adultery, for example, can never be called devotional service. ## 13. What should the mentality of practitioners like us be? A practitioner should know that anartha-nivṛtti is the last platform before attaining the goal of life. Part of that understanding is to know that unfavorable situations create situations favorable for devotional service in the next moment. If one develops the mentality that everything in this world is meant for Kṛṣṇa’s service, then the propensity for material enjoyment cannot disturb him. We should all gladly accept whatever pleases Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa is pleased by making me averse to Him, then I should accept that. Such dependence on the Supreme Lord will protect us. When hearing and chanting about the Lord become prominent in our lives, anarthas are gradually and automatically destroyed. We should proceed on the path of devotional service by knowing firmly that following in the footsteps of the eternally perfected spiritual master is the only alternative for attaining our ultimate goal of life. ## 14. Is there more to the mentality we should maintain? We should treat those relatives averse to Śrī Caitanya as strangers. We have to give up bad association and take advantage of good association. Unless we associate with saints, we cannot give up bad association. We should understand that those who are averse to, indifferent toward, or envious of Śrī Caitanyadeva’s devotees are enemies of Caitanya. Only those who spend their time discussing Kṛṣṇa-kathā are devotees. Those who instead of discussing Kṛṣṇa-kathā spend their time discussing worldly topics and the philosophy of impersonalism are nondevotees and sinful. That the material world is meant for our enjoyment and that we are the enjoyer is a mundane conception. Actually, the material world is Jagannātha’s residence, who is the Lord of the universe. We become fortunate when we go to Vraja if we accept our spiritual master, who is an eternally perfected associate of Kṛṣṇa, to be a Vrajavāsī. Our duty is simply to approach and follow an eternally perfected personality, accepting him as guru. That will give us the shelter of Vraja. If instead we become independent and try to see things through sense perception, we will prolong our material existence and never reach Vraja. Try your best to sincerely worship Hari. You will not live long but are bound to leave this world. Engage in the Lord’s service under guru’s guidance. When your serving propensity becomes strong, nothing will distract you from that. Our perfection lies in desiring the dust from the lotus feet of the guru who is a staunch follower of Śrī Rūpa. By paying close attention to the pleasure of guru and Gaurāṅga, we will not be ruined by the desire for sense gratification. We must live simply to worship Hari. Do not give up hari-bhajana simply because you see obstacles or dangers on the devotional path. ## 15. What does a devotee understand to be true? Actual devotees do not become disturbed in any situation whether it is happy or full of distress, convenient or inconvenient. Rather, they always engage in the Lord’s service with body, mind, and speech. Devotees are firmly established in the principle of serving the Lord. They think, “I am the Lord’s servant. Serving Him is my life and soul. Apart from service everything is material existence or death.” Devotees are by nature inclined to serve the Lord. They cannot remain without service. Only service-inclined devotees are able to serve the object of their service. The object of service, the servant, and the service are sewn with the same thread. ## 16. What is a real disciple? One whose life and soul is his guru, whose ideal is his spiritual master, whose aim is to serve his spiritual master, and who is more partial to his spiritual master even though he has equal love and devotion for Kṛṣṇa, is an actual disciple. Real disciples are not weak; they are strongly upheld by the spiritual master’s mercy. Their strength and hope are the service and mercy of their spiritual master. Real disciples never transgress their guru’s orders even when their life is at stake. Because disciples follow the guru’s order as their life and soul, they are qualified to receive their spiritual master’s mercy. ## 17. What should a disciple’s mentality be? Our object of hearing should be glorification of the spiritual master. We must humbly follow the spiritual master’s orders without any reservation. For this we should gladly accept any necessary inconvenience. This is how a disciple thinks. The spiritual master glorifies the Absolute Truth. A disciple must hear his words attentively and then apply them in his own life. ## 18. What is the conception of the devotees? Devotees consider all objects to be ingredients of the Lord’s service. If we see things with a service attitude rather than a spirit of enjoyment, then everything is worshipable. If there is a gap in our hearing, chanting, or remembering the Lord, then we will be swallowed by the idea that we are the enjoyer. If we become absorbed in gossip, we will lose the opportunity to associate with sādhus and therefore lose the serving mentality. Hearing and chanting about Hari is both sādhana, the process of attaining the goal of life, and śādhya, the ultimate goal. By good fortune we have received a human body. By good fortune and the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa, we have been given an opportunity to serve the Supreme Lord. If we waste our time in idle talk, then we are misusing the gift. It is our duty to always discuss hari-kathā and to cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By doing so we can become the Lord’s devotees, become free of the material concept of life, and attain perpetual happiness. ## 19. Does a devotee see Kṛṣṇa everywhere? According to a Vaiṣṇava’s transcendental vision, the Lord is eternally present in water as well as on earth. He is present in each and every atom. The Lord is situated everywhere as the Supersoul. But He does not come under the purview of those nondevotees who are attached to wealth, women, and fame. Such people do not believe in the Vaiṣṇava’s conviction. But Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, who proved His devotee’s words true, proved that the Supreme Lord is everywhere by appearing from a stone pillar. Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva destroys impediments on the path of bhakti.