# Preaching ## 1. Should we live exemplary lives? We should always be careful that other people do not get the wrong impression of our ideal character. Neophytes experience danger at every step because they are not introspective. They draw conclusions based only on external appearances. ## 2. What is the duty of the devotees? It is the devotees’ duty to destroy the conditioned soul’s sinful propensities. A devotee stands with the chopper of sharp instruction in his hand before the wooden framework used for sacrificing animals. Then he kills the conditioned souls’ material animal-like desires. The devotees flatter no one. If a devotee flatters me, he is my enemy. The Vaiṣṇavas do not associate with nondevotees, but to benefit them, they destroy the nondevotees’ sinful propensities with the weapon of their instructions and thus award them the opportunity to associate with devotees. If we sincerely take shelter at our guru’s lotus feet, we will see the Supreme Lord in one lifetime. ## 3. Who is the most beneficial friend? There are no real friends or well-wishers in this world except those who attract the living entities to chant Kṛṣṇa’s holy names. The charity given by millions of magnanimous donors is insignificant compared to the magnanimous nature of the preachers of the holy names. ## 4. How should we preach to ordinary people? Human beings carry a variety of diseases and each needs to be treated individually. Unless the disease is properly diagnosed, proper treatment cannot be administered and the ailment will not be cured. A platform speaker cannot do much for most sick people. He can give only token relief. I have not found anyone sincerely interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for forty years. Now whomever comes to me is not interested in hearing hari-kathā. They are not ready to give up their dependence on their own education and intelligence. In this world people like to become popular; they do not like to inquire about the Absolute Truth. Those who claim to be religious preachers are busy trying to protect their own existence by flattering others. By speaking and hearing the truth, one’s popularity is unlikely to be enhanced. Therefore, we are not interested in the sympathy or support of ordinary people who are averse to the Lord. ## 5. Should we boldly speak the truth? Without cheating anyone we should boldly speak the truth to everyone. If the truth is bitter or unpopular but bestows blessings on the living entities, we must speak it. This will not ultimately cause them anxiety. We ourselves should inquire about the Absolute Truth, and then we should try to understand how to help everyone else. Giving Kṛṣṇa consciousness to others requires firm determination. Do not think of saving only the people of the present age. Think of the people in all ages and all times. Teach about the most pleasant kingdom of Vaikuṇṭha, the place from which no one ever returns to this material world. If you want to preach transcendence, it is vital that you yourself have taken shelter at the lotus feet of your spiritual master. Always serve the spiritual master who imparts to you transcendental knowledge. Even if you live at home instead of in the Maṭha, we should all serve him together. We should also maintain the Lord and His devotees in opulent houses with comfortable atmospheres, and we ourselves should live in ordinary cottages. If we feed Kṛṣṇa nicely rather than enjoying things for ourselves, we will attain His mercy. Always remember that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Our lives will become successful only when we use everything in this world in His service. However, before preaching these instructions we must live them. Unless we speak the truth boldly we cannot please guru and Gaurāṅga. The more determined one is in devotional service, the bolder and more courageous he will be as a preacher. If I fail to speak the impartial truth because I might become unpopular, I have certainly abandoned the path of my disciplic succession and accepted an unauthorized path. In the end I will either find myself cheated or will become an atheist. ## 6. Why were the Maṭhas established? The Maṭhas were not established to favor ordinary people but to help pure devotees advance in spiritual life. We serve Lord Gaurāṅga simply by performing śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana. The Bhāgavatam verse, yajnaiḥ saṅkīrtana prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ, supports this idea. The example set by Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s Gaura pastimes is the only auspicious way to perfection for the jīvas. The Maṭhas have not been established to please bhogīs or tyāgīs. They have been established to preach pure devotional service. We receive blessings as we serve Hari by establishing Maṭhas. Our intention is not to collect one or two rupees to benefit the Maṭha. We should not be eager to take help from unscrupulous people. Rather, if we can benefit anyone by speaking the bold truth, then the Maṭha’s purpose is served. People will often play tricks on us. We should consider such tricks the Lord’s test. It is difficult to cross beyond insurmountable Maya unless we are greatly fortunate. Māyāvādīs and bhogīs are both conditioned souls. By the mercy of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, persons who surrender to Hari can discriminate between good and bad, right and wrong. Know for certain that being drawn by the enjoying spirit, many people cannot realize the Absolute Truth. ## 7. Who can give us Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is not a product of this world but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the primeval Lord, the Absolute Truth, the supreme worshipable Lord, the supreme enjoyer and the ultimate object of service. No one in this world can give us Kṛṣṇa, the controller of Maya. Yet Kṛṣṇa is the property of His devotees, because Kṛṣṇa appears in their pure, service-inclined hearts. Therefore the devotees can give us Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa’s devotees distribute Kṛṣṇa door to door. Such is their mercy! Out of compassion for the living entities, the devotees go door to door and distribute the holy name, which is Kṛṣṇa Himself. The most merciful Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu also distributed the Lord’s holy name, the ultimate object of worship for everyone. If by good fortune we can take shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s devotee and sincerely surrender ourselves at his or her lotus feet, then that devotee will certainly give us Kṛṣṇa. ## 8. Should we glorify Hari constantly? Mahāprabhu taught kīrtanīya sadā hariḥ, that we should always chant the holy name of Hari. The word “sadā” leaves room for no interruption. Human beings have no work or duty other than to glorify Hari. Hari should be glorified even before birds and animals. We do not care if the ignorant call us mad or fools. We will constantly propagate hari-kathā under the order and guidance of our spiritual master and Lord Gaurāṅga. In order to hear mundane topics, people read daily newspapers and remain ever absorbed in worldly matters. Our proposition is to let everyone hear about Caitanya Mahāprabhu every day. Let them discuss Caitanya whenever they meet one another, and let them survive on the strength of these topics. Let there be nothing else discussed in this world. In order to keep the cultivation of Caitanya and His instructions alive forever, we ourselves have to remain absorbed in caitanya-kathā. At present, despite impediments put forth by materialists, we are spending large amounts of money to arrange for the constant glorification of Hari. This world’s senseless people suffer from a variety of anarthas and are intoxicated by material life. They are so intoxicated that they will do anything but try to remedy their suffering. Instead, they use their time, money, and intelligence to hear mundane topics, thereby inviting their own ruination by worsening their diseased condition. It is as if they are eating improper food instead of healthy food. Finally, they will go to hell. But still they will not hear about Śrī Caitanya even a little. It is as if they have taken a vow to avoid the proper remedy. Nevertheless, despite the obstacles, Śrī Caitanya’s devotees regularly propagate the message of Śrī Caitanya throughout the world. ## 9. What is our principal duty? Our principal duty is to first follow Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s instructions and then to preach them everywhere. That will benefit us and help others as well. We are poor living entities, but we are never daridra-nārāyaṇas. Still, because we are poor we should accumulate wealth to ease our poverty. That wealth is love of Kṛṣṇa. Without the treasury of love of God our lives are useless and impoverished. Pray to the Lord to accept you as His servant and pay you with love of Himself as your salary. Śrī Mahāprabhu has said, “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.” Mundane sound vibration has filled the entire world. We should replace it with transcendental sound vibration. The Lord’s temple should be established according to the pāncarātrika system to aid this process. Worship the Lord with love and devotion and benefit the whole world. Those who are of a higher class should preach. It was Mahāprabhu’s desire that we each propagate the transcendental sound vibration, so we should engage in nāma-saṅkīrtana everywhere. For this, we need to print many pamphlets to help us in our broad-scale preaching work. Rich and educated people wander about desiring money and women. Even though we make our throats sore by screaming before them, they never pay attention to our words. Don’t waste time on them. I repeat: We must print plenty of pamphlets so we can preach widely. Let them see the philosophy in the scriptures and the importance of the subject matter about which we are trying to speak. Those who are proud cannot preach. Those who are proud only consider themselves great when they speak about Kṛṣṇa to others. The Absolute Truth does not reveal Himself to such persons. Thus it is impossible for them to preach and therefore to help others. Mahāprabhu instructed us to chant the holy name while remaining lower than the straw in the street and ready to offer all respect to others. Don’t gossip. Gossip benefits no one. Understand carefully what is good for you. And don’t blaspheme. The mahājanas have said that blasphemers never achieve anything good. Let the materialists engage in whatever activities they choose—we need not bother about them. But think about yourself. We often say that while others are bad, we are worse. It is imperative that we keep our sinful minds engaged constantly in worshiping the Lord. To spend time attacking others, trying to dissuade them from this or that, is not the preacher’s course but the act of a cheater. We have become busy in various activities and have forgotten our original constitutional duty. Make a sincere endeavor to clean out the filth accumulated in your heart. Although this appears to be self-interest, it is essential and should be done immediately, because preaching without following has no value. Unless one constantly engages in hari-bhajana, it will be impossible for him to induce others to worship Hari. It is vital to take shelter of the spiritual master, who is nondifferent from Śrī Nityānanda. The spiritual master, who is Kṛṣṇa’s energy, is the principal preacher, and we should all preach under his guidance. Otherwise, we will not be successful. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya-līla 7.11 states: kali-kālera dharma kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana. The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the saṅkīrtana movement. The Six Gosvāmīs, headed by Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana, are our gurus. Follow in their footsteps. We cannot advance in spiritual life without the guidance of Śrī Rūpa. Let the dust from the lotus feet of our guru, who is nondifferent from Śrī Rūpa, become our only asset. Then we will attain our fortune. In the kingdom of devotional service, the idea that we are servants is prominent. The mood of servitorship is found in all the rasas, including sakhya, vātsalya, and mādhurya. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 6.82 contains this verse: pitā-mātā-guru-sakhā-bhāva kene naya kṛṣṇa-premera svabhāve dāsya-bhāva se karaya All the emotions, whether those of father, mother, teacher, or friend, are full of sentiments of servitude. That is the nature of love of Kṛṣṇa. ## 10. What is your mission’s aim? There was no need at all for us to form a mission, but people were walking in the wrong way and we wanted to deliver them. Serving the Supreme Lord is our mission. Even if we were offered the position of world emperor for millions of lifetimes, it would be easy to reject the proposal. Such things are just like stool and urine. Our insignificant endeavor is to deliver humankind from its wrong direction and to establish all living entities as servants at the lotus feet of Śrī Gaurasundara. Whether one is Brahmā, Śiva, Vāyu, or Varuṇa, whether one is a great religious preacher or religious leader, if he deviates even an inch from Śrī Caitanyadeva’s teachings, he will find himself in trouble. Śrī Caitanyadeva’s servants worship the supreme Absolute Truth. Śrī Caitanyadeva’s servants are neither attracted to nor afraid of those who preach this world’s religious principles because they have found immense beauty at Śrī Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet. For the devotees of Gaura, the poisonous tooth of the snake-like sense objects is broken. No amount of this world’s deceit can cheat those who have heard Śrī Gaurasundara’s teachings. Neither the yoga system propounded by Patañjali, which teaches one artificial self-control, nor association with woman such as Menakā and Urvaśī, can attract the Lord’s devotees. Even the Vaiṣṇava’s shoe-carriers are liberated from the clutches of those who pessimistically think that to become free from distress is a great achievement. The Lord’s devotees do not think that being deprived of the necessities of life is great. They do not need to practice renunciation of the external world and so stuff their ears with cotton like the cloth weavers. They are not interested in their own happiness. They know that the attempt to enjoy material life will lead them to hell. They consider themselves ailing animals. No one can take shelter of Śrī Gaurasundara’s lotus feet with their worldly acquisitions. They must become servants of His lotus feet. Another type of cheating: I will sit in a solitary place and chant the names of Gaura-Nitāi. This is simply selfish. The senses are our enemies. These senses have filled the path of devotional service, our eternal occupational duty and the path preached by Śrī Caitanyadeva, with thorns. Therefore people mistakenly identify pseudo devotional service, such as karma, jñāna, and yoga for bhakti. But I will serve the transcendental Personality of Godhead. I will not become a sweeper by directly or indirectly serving my doglike senses. I will not become a washerman by serving my ass. I will not become an engineer of bricks and stone. Those who possess these mentalities can please Mahāprabhu only by taking shelter of devotional service. Śrī Gaurasundara is not a mundane object like a wall. By His mercy only can we be liberated from the aversion to the Lord we have developed since time immemorial. There is no alternative to submitting ourselves before His mercy. If others come forward to make a show of bestowing mercy, we will consider them cheaters. Those who do not constantly glorify Gaura’s holy names and do not sing about His pastimes, cannot act as ācāryas. Those who are attached to the insignificant objects of this world can act as teachers only of the mundane school but never as spiritual masters. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līla 8.128 states: kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ’guru’ haya It does not matter whether a person is a vipra [learned scholar in Vedic wisdom] or is born in a lower family, or is in the renounced order of life—if he is master in the science of Kṛṣṇa he is the perfect and bona fide spiritual master. Such a great soul can deliver me by hitting me in the core of my heart and by cutting the knots there. He will bestow his nonduplicitous mercy and he will not flatter me. ## 11. What does the Gauḍīya Maṭha teach? The message of the Gauḍīya Maṭha is let’s go back home, back to Godhead. The Gauḍīya Maṭha was inaugurated in order to preach about pure devotional service and to present Mahāprabhu’s teachings to the world. Mahāprabhu’s invaluable instructions and teachings are the object of the Gauḍīya Maṭha’s preaching. And the devotees at the Gauḍīya Maṭha preach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by personally ## 12. What is the devotees’ opinion? Hari’s devotees say, “O living entity! You are a servant of the Supreme Lord and have no relationship with the material world. Since you are Hari’s servant, your only business is to serve Him. As soon as you give up Hari’s service and engage in some other activity, you will lose your peace of mind.” O living entity! Do not gratify your senses in the name of serving Hari. Remember, service means to gratify Kṛṣṇa’s senses. To act in a way that pleases your own senses and the senses of your relatives is not service. If you think it service, you will be cheated. Do not wrongly identify service to family with service to the Lord. Do not waste time serving Maya after taking shelter of the Supreme Lord. If you do, how will you gain? You will simply become more attached to family life and ultimately fail to attain the Supreme. Be eager to serve the Lord if you wish to attain Him. Be intelligent and serve Kṛṣṇa at any cost. Then the spiritual master and Gaurāṅga will certainly be pleased with you. ## 13. Why do surrendered devotees beg alms? Surrendered devotees do whatever the Lord dictates. By Śrī Gaurasundara’s order, and to benefit others, the devotees go door to door and beg alms to engage others in devotional service. In order to distribute the contents of their topmost treasury, and to invite people to participate in the festival of Kṛṣṇa’s service, they go door to door to beg. They do not go anywhere influenced of an enjoying spirit. The devotees’ compassion is incomparable. They want only to induce everyone to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. ## 14. Can one do more for people by giving them personal instruction? One who gives personal instruction to each and everyone does more for others than the platform speakers do. Generally, whatever platform speakers say cannot solve the problems of everyone in the audience, nor can it always benefit every individual. A person’s defects are better rectified in a private tutorial class or private coaching than in hearing lectures in a school or college. Therefore those who instruct particular persons separately can award them something more permanent. ## 15. What is actual welfare? Being averse to Lord Viṣṇu, innumerable living entities have come to Mahāmāyās prison house so they can envy Lord Viṣṇu unlimitedly. If you can deliver even one of these people and make him or her a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then this is a much more important form of welfare than building hospitals or schools. We hear, “I am a resident of India. Therefore it is my duty to see to India’s interest according to the temporary situation. If I were born in foreign country and was living in India, then even though it would be against India, I would be concerned about that foreign interest.”Śrī Caitanyadeva and His devotees are not so involved in insignificant sectarianism born of matter and based on time, place, and person. The welfare activities they perform and the example of patriotism they set do not temporarily benefit one group while harming another. The fruit of their welfare activities and patriotism can be had by all people at all time all over the world. This is not my imagination; it is fact. Don’t flatter when you preach. Those who flatter are not teachers or spiritual masters, and they are certainly not real preachers. In order to be popular or to accomplish their ends, those who wander about flattering people and thus supplying them with fuel to increase their sense gratification do not actually wish the people well. One need not hear from them, and if one does, it will cause ruination. ## 16. Why do so few people like to hear the truth? It is a fact that many people are not interested in the Absolute Truth or even the spiritual path. This is because the supreme truth is not a path of sense gratification but of renunciation. Some people have spoiled the brains of the young Bengalis by encouraging them to become great religionists and fruitive workers. That is why we have to spend hundreds of gallons of blood to preach. Even so, few people are able to understand the actual truth. Unless one is fortunate and pious, one does not develop the desire to hear genuine truth or kṛṣṇa-kathā. Human beings are entangled in either material enjoyment or renunciation, but the intelligent and fortunate scrutinize the paths of preyas and śreyas and conclude that the former is a path of bondage and the latter a path of liberation. Only sober persons give up preyas for śreyas. The less intelligent, who do not know how to discriminate, pray for preyas, hoping always to gain what they lack and preserve what they have. The Śāstras assure us that it will be difficult to find people interested in spiritual advancement, and even if we find such people, we can expect them to be unable to understand its importance. An expert speaker who knows the science of śreyas is extremely rare. Moreover, even if such a rare speaker is found, it is difficult to find a receptive and submissive audience to hear him. Millions of flattering speakers will go to hell, but someday, someone will realize the confidential truth spoken boldly and be saved. It may take hundreds of lifetimes or hundreds of yugas before someone can hear properly, but it is not possible to make a person understand the truth unless one is prepared to spend hundreds of gallons of vital blood. ## 17. Is it our business to build a Maṭha and live there? It is more intelligent to create a living Maṭha rather than to build a Maṭha for comfortable living. Creating a living Maṭha means to attract faithful persons to surrender at the lotus feet of the spiritual master. The highest welfare activity is to attract living entities to serve the spiritual master’s lotus feet by describing to them the spiritual master’s glories and service. For this we spend gallons of blood. Such preaching will please both guru and Kṛṣṇa. Therefore to dedicate body, mind, and speech to such philanthropic activities is the perfection of life. A Maṭha surcharged with talk of Kṛṣṇa’s glories and service is nondifferent from Vaikuṇṭha. Thus living in a Maṭha is just like living in a dhāma. Hari-kathā must be prominent in the Maṭha. There is no use in building a Maṭha simply to facilitate eating and sleeping. Maṭhas should be built only to spread hari-kathā. This will benefit ourselves and others. Devotees who are fully dedicated to their spiritual master are the living source, and we are to hear from such living sources so that we too can become dedicated devotees. People devoid and bereft of service to the spiritual master are dead even as they breathe. Do not not associate with such nondevotees if you do not want to harm your spiritual progress. ## 18. What is the highest blessing one can give others? The most auspicious blessing one can shower on the people, “May you all be Kṛṣṇa conscious.” To divert the jīvas’ attention toward Kṛṣṇa is the best thing you can do for them. It is an act of highest altruism to award Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service to others. In their hearts, devotees are always eager to perform such an act of welfare. Supreme knowledge is to know the Supreme Lord. Śāstra declares, vidyā bhāgavatābadhi, the limit of knowledge is to understand Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 8.245 states: prabhu kahe —“kon vidyā vidyā-madhye sāra?” rāya kahe —“kṛṣṇa-bhakti vinā vidyā nāhi āra” On one occasion the Lord inquired, “Of all types of education, which is the most important?” Rāmānanda Rāya replied, “No education is important other than the transcendental devotional service of Kṛṣṇa.” The godless education currently being propagated has not and will not benefit humankind but will further degrade it. The highest gift the devotees can give to the entire human race is the Śrī Caitanyadeva’s mercy. ## 19. Who is qualified to preach? The self-realized souls, who see the Supreme Lord face to face, are qualified to preach the Lord’s glories. They are the principal preachers. Innumerable other preachers can preach under their guidance. After seeing the Supreme Lord face to face, Śrī Vyāsadeva preached Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with a peaceful mind. The self-sufficient Śukadeva and great personalities such as the Nava-yogendras preached about the soul’s eternal duty while wandering as mendicants. Only the liberated souls wander and preach about Hari. Śrīman Mahāprabhu and His associates preached everywhere. Thousands of questions arise, but proper answers to all these questions can be found when one hears hari-kathā properly. Do not be impatient. ## 20. Who is an ācārya? A devotee who practices what he preaches is an ācārya. An ācārya is impartial and liberated and can induce others to give up bad association by boldly and impartially instructing them about the imminent danger of such association while personally setting an ideal example of complete renunciation of bad association and constant cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unless one dedicates one’s life completely, one cannot preach. An ācārya is a preacher. ## 21. Isn’t giving people food and clothing compassionate? If some persons believe in God or worship Hari, we will certainly help them with food and clothing. We have to feed the poor to make them worship Hari. We have to give them some tangible help. But to maintain a poisonous snake by feeding it milk and bananas is not compassionate. Mundane welfare work is like that; it leads people to godlessness by tempting them with sense objects. Real compassion is to make the living entities who are averse to Kṛṣṇa inclined toward His service. The living entities are suffering in this world in so many ways because they have forgotten their service to Kṛṣṇa. By awakening their Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the association of devotees, they can become free of their suffering and become happy. Śrī Caitanyadeva displayed this kind of compassion. If we make a comparative study between Lord Caitanya’s compassion and the so-called insignificant and incomplete compassion of mundane philanthropists, we will see that the compassion displayed by Mahāprabhu is complete and eternal, whereas the compassion displayed by others is limited and artificial. ## 22. Do devotees speculate? As our guru’s servants we speak only what we have been taught and do not put forth new proposals. At the same time, we do not miss any opportunity to speak the truth for the people’s benefit. So far, whatever I have explained to you does not go to my credit. I have no personal qualification. As a disciple, I simply repeat my spiritual master’s words. I preach about the Absolute Truth as the information has come down to me from my spiritual master in disciplic succession. I speak only what he has mercifully revealed to me or inspired me to speak. Apart from this, I have no qualification. ## 23. Why do devotees appear in this world? The Lord’s devotees come to this world in order to favor the living entities. They are not duty-bound to come here, and certainly they have no personal need. But to change the living entities’ adverse taste for devotion to something favorable is their only compassionate duty. They want to spark interest in the people in this world in engaging in bhakti. If we miss their thrust and remain averse to the Supreme Lord and indifferent to saṅkīrtana, the yuga-dharma of the age, then whatever other welfare activities we do, such as feeding the poor or educating the foolish, is a complete waste of time and energy. ## 24. Is the preaching of contemporary devotees powerful? Just as an arrow’s power is calculated by the prowess of an archer, similarly the power and effect of one’s preaching depends on how much devotional strength one possesses. Therefore there is a gulf of difference between the preaching of ordinary devotees and the preaching of a powerful devotee. Such powerful devotees are referred to as “the living source.” Those who experience such persons in their own lives are certainly fortunate.