## Chapter VII Preaching Is Based on Compassion ### 1. The preacher's mood of compassion: One who identifies himself as a follower of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu should feel like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who said, *ihā-sabāra kon mate ha-ibe nistāra: *"How will all these *yavanas *be delivered?" Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was always anxious to deliver the fallen souls because their fallen condition gave Him great unhappiness. That is the platform on which one can propagate the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. *— Cc. *Antya *[[cc/antya/3/51|3.51]]* ### 2. Impelled by knowledge and compassion, the devotee preaches: Whenever there is disease in any part of the body, the whole body takes care of the ailing part. Similarly, a devotee's oneness is manifested in his compassion for all conditioned souls. *Bhagavad-gītā *says, *paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ: *those who are learned see everyone's conditional life equally. (*Bg*. [[bg/5/18|5.18]]) Devotees are compassionate to every conditioned soul, and therefore they are known as *apārakya-buddhi. *Because devotees are learned and know that every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, they preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness to everyone so that they may be happy. If a particular part of the body is diseased, the whole attention of the body goes to that part. Similarly, devotees care for any person who is forgetful of Kṛṣṇa and therefore in material consciousness. The equal vision of the devotee is that he works to get all living entities back home, back to Godhead. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/4/7/53|4.7.53]]* ### 3. Out of compassion for living entities, the sādhu preaches: **The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.** A *sādhu, *as described above, is a devotee of the Lord. His concern, therefore, is to enlighten people in devotional service to the Lord. That is his mercy. He knows that without devotional service to the Lord, human life is spoiled. A devotee travels all over the country, from door to door, preaching, "Be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Be a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Don't spoil your life in simply fulfilling your animal propensities. Human life is meant for self-realization, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness." These are the preachings of a *sādhu. *He is not satisfied with his own liberation. He always thinks about others. He is the most compassionate personality towards all the fallen souls. One of his qualifications, therefore, is *kāruṇika, *great mercy to the fallen souls.... He is merciful because he is the well-wisher of all living entities. He is not only a well-wisher of human society, but a well-wisher of animal society as well. It is said here, *sarva-dehinām, *which indicates all living entities who have accepted a material body. Not only does the human being have a material body, but other living entities, such as cats and dogs, also have material bodies. The devotee of the Lord is merciful to everyone—the cats, dogs, trees, etc. He treats all living entities in such a way that they can ultimately get salvation from this material entanglement. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/3/25/21|3.25.21]]* ### 4. A Vaisṇava shows compassion toward sinful, suffering entities: Prahlāda Mahārāja is the topmost example of a Vaiṣṇava who is always compassionate toward sinful persons suffering a hellish life within this material world. Kṛṣṇa is therefore known as *para-duḥkha-duḥkhī kṛpāmbudhi, *or one who is compassionate toward others' suffering and who is an ocean of mercy. Like Prahlāda Mahārāja, all pure devotees of the Lord come to this material world with full compassion to deliver the sinful. They undergo all kinds of tribulations, suffering them with tolerance, because that is another qualification of a Vaiṣṇava, who tries to deliver all sinful persons from the hellish conditions of material existence. Vaiṣṇavas are therefore offered the following prayer: vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ **"I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls."** The chief concern of a Vaiṣṇava is to deliver the fallen souls. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/4/21/47|4.21.47]]* ### 5. A bona fide devotee is aggrieved to see the fallen condition of the world: A bona fide devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is always pained to see the fallen condition of the whole world. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to say, "There is no scarcity of anything within this world. The only scarcity is of Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is the vision of all pure devotees. Because of this lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in human society, people are suffering terribly, being merged in an ocean of nescience and sense gratification. A devotee onlooker is very much aggrieved to see such a situation in the world. *— Cc. Ā*di *[[cc/adi/13/67|13.67]]* ### 6. A devotee is not satisfied with his own salvation; out of compassion, he preaches to others, and Kṛṣṇa gives him special protection: A Kṛṣṇa conscious person should free himself from the clutches of *māyā*, and he should also be compassionate to all others suffering in those clutches. The activities of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are meant not only for oneself but for others also. This is the perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is interested in his own salvation is not as advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness as one who feels compassion for others and who therefore propagates the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Such an advanced devotee will never fall down, for Kṛṣṇa will give him special protection. That is the sum and substance of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *6.2.36-37* ### 7. A devotee feels compassion for the fallen souls: **Devahūti continued: My dear Lord, please also describe in detail, both for myself and for people in general, the continual process of birth and death, for by hearing of such calamities we may become detached from the activities of this material world.... My dear Lord, You are just like the sun, for You illuminate the darkness of the conditional life of the living entities. Because their eyes of knowledge are not open, they are sleeping eternally in that darkness without Your shelter, and therefore they are falsely engaged by the actions and reactions of their material activities, and they appear to be very fatigued.** Lord Kapila was very satisfied by the request of His glorious mother because she was thinking not only in terms of her personal salvation but in terms of all the fallen conditioned souls. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/3/29/3|3.29.3-6]]* ### 8. Feeling compassion for conditioned souls, the devotee preaches: A pure devotee of the Lord like Brahmā and persons in his disciplic succession are always unhappy to see the perplexities of the conditioned souls, who are suffering the onslaughts of the threefold miseries which pertain to the body and mind, to the disturbances of material nature and many other such material disadvantages. Not knowing adequate measures for relieving such difficulties, suffering persons sometimes pose themselves as leaders of the people, and the unfortunate followers are put into further disadvantages under such so-called leadership. This is like a blind man's leading another blind man to fall into a ditch. Therefore, unless the devotees of the Lord take pity on them and teach them the right path, their lives are hopeless failures. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/3/9/8|3.9.8]]* ### 9. Out of compassion, saintly people preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness: Saintly people preach God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness because they are anxious to save the general populace from the dangers of animalistic life. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/4/14/9|4.14.9]]* ### 10. The Lord is satisfied with a preacher who is tolerant and merciful: **The Lord is very satished with His devotee when the devotee greets other people with tolerance, mercy, friendship and equality.** It is the duty of an advanced devotee in the second stage of devotional perfection to act in accordance with this verse.... Sometimes devotees are ill-treated by envious persons. It is advised that an advanced devotee should be tolerant; he should show complete mercy to persons who are ignorant or innocent. A preacher-devotee is meant to show mercy to innocent persons whom he can elevate to devotional service. Everyone, by constitutional position, is an eternal servant of God. Therefore, a devotee's business is to awaken everyone's Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is his mercy.... His general view should be to see every living entity as part of the Supreme Lord. Different living entities appear in different forms of dress, but according to the instruction of the *Bhagavad-gītā, *a learned person sees all living entities equally. Such treatment by the devotee is very much appreciated by the Supreme Lord. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/4/11/13|4.11.13]]* ### 11. Devotees, out of compassion, are kind to the ignorant mass of people and therefore preach (and are blessed by the demigods): Pure devotees, out of compassion for the fallen souls, are *kṛpālu, *very kind to people in general; they distribute this *Bhāgavata *knowledge all over the world. A kindhearted devotee is called *dīna-nātha, *protector of the poor, ignorant mass of people. Lord Kṛṣṇa is also known as *dīna-nātha *or *dīna-bandhu, *the master or actual friend of the poor living entities, and His pure devotee also takes the same position of *dīna-nātha. *The *dīna-nāthas, *or devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who preach the path of devotional service, become favorites of the demigods.... the demigods are automatically pleased with him and offer all the blessings within their capacity. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/4/12/51|4.12.51]]* ### 12. Out of compassion for materialists, devotees preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness: The duty of those who follow in the footsteps of Prahlada Maharaja is to teach the entire world how to be Kṛṣṇa conscious and thus be really happy.... Materialistic persons are engaged in striving for temporary benefits, whereas persons advanced in spiritual knowledge, such as Prahlāda Mahārāja, are not interested in the materialistic way of life. Instead, they want to be elevated to an eternal life of knowledge and bliss. Therefore, as Kṛṣṇa is always compassionate to the fallen souls, His servants, the devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa, are also interested in educating the entire populace in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The mistake of materialistic life is understood by devotees, and therefore they smile upon it, considering it insignificant. Out of compassion, however, such devotees preach the gospel of *Bhagavad-gītā *all over the world. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/7/5/55|7.5.55]]* ### 13. Prahlāda's prayer for delivering all conditioned souls: ****"O** **best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material existence, for wherever I stay I am fully absorbed in thoughts of Your glories and activities. My** **concern is only for the fools and rascals who are making elaborate plans for material happiness and maintaining their families, societies and countries. I am simply** **concerned with love for them. My** **dear Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, I see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence.... They are not interested in delivering others. As** **for me, however, I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, without taking shelter of Your lotus feet, one cannot be happy. Therefore I wish to bring them back to shelter at Your lotus feet."**** *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/7/9/43|7.9.43-44]]* ### 14. Out of compassion great devotees travel and preach: Great unalloyed devotees of the Lord are compassionate towards the fallen, and therefore they travel all over the world with the mission of bringing souls back to Godhead, back to home. Such pure devotees of the Lord carry the message of Godhead in order to deliver the fallen souls, and therefore the common man who is bewildered by the influence of the external energy of the Lord should avail himself of their association. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/3/5/3|3.5.3]]* ### 15. Preaching is based on compassion: **O my Lord, persons who are bereft of the all-auspicious performance of chanting and hearing about Your transcendental activities are certainly unfortunate and are also bereft of good sense. They engage in inauspicious activities, enjoying sense gratification for a very little while.** The Lord's pure devotees ... take compassion upon such unfortunate persons and, in a missionary spirit, try to persuade them into the line of devotional service. Only by the grace of pure devotees can such unfortunate men be elevated to the position of transcendental service. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/3/9/7|3.9.7]]* ### 16. Vāsudeva Datta's prayer to save all living entities (exemplifying Vaiṣṇava compassion): ****Vāsudeva Datta told Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "My dear Lord, You incarnate just to deliver all conditioned souls. I have now one petition, which I wish You would accept.... My Lord, my heart breaks to see the sufferings of all conditioned souls; therefore I request You to transfer the karma of their sinful lives upon my head.** **My dear Lord, let me suffer perpetually in a hellish condition, accepting all the sinful reactions of all living entities.** **Please finish their diseased material life."**** **When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard Vāsudeva Datta's statement, His heart became very soft. Tears flowed from His eyes, and He began to tremble....** A Vaiṣṇava is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue conditioned souls from material existence.... He [Vāsudeva Datta] was a most exalted personality who wanted to show mercy upon conditioned souls.... He was a Vaiṣṇava—*para-duḥkha-duḥkhī—*very much aggrieved to see others suffer.... One who executes Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission must be considered to be eternally liberated. He is a transcendental person and does not belong to this material world. Such a devotee engaging in the deliverance of the total population is as magnanimous as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself ... Such a personality factually represents Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu because his heart is always filled with compassion for conditioned souls. *— Cc. *Madhya *[[cc/madhya/15/160|15.160]], [[cc/madhya/15/162|162-164]]* ### 17. Impelled by compassion, the devotee preaches: When a Vaiṣṇava sees mismanagement in the government, he feels great compassion in his heart and tries his best to purify the situation by spreading the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam* [[sb/6/2/3|6.2.3]]* ### 18. Out of compassion, the devotee preaches: Vaiṣṇavas, or devotees, are usually very compassionate upon conditioned souls. Without even being invited, a devotee will go from door to door to enlighten people and to bring them out of the darkness of nescience by injecting knowledge of the living entity's constitutional position as a servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees are empowered by the Lord to distribute devotional consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to the people in general. *— TLC Ch. 1* ### 19. By the compassion and mercy of a devotee, the Lord delivers a conditioned soul: Bhaṭṭācārya's brother-in-law, Gopīnātha Ācārya, and the devotees of the Lord were surprised to see the Bhaṭṭācārya transformed into a great devotee. Gopīnātha Ācārya then began to thank the Lord: "It is by Your grace only that Bhaṭṭācārya has been transformed from his stonelike position into such a devotee." Lord Caitanya then replied to Gopīnātha Ācārya that it was due to a devotee's favor that a stonelike man could be transformed into a mild, flowerlike devotee. Actually Gopīnātha Ācārya had sincerely wished that his brother-in-law, Bhaṭṭācārya, would become a devotee of the Lord. He had sincerely desired that the Lord favor Bhaṭṭacārya, and he was glad to see that his desire was fulfilled by Lord Caitanya. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is more merciful than the Lord Himself. When a devotee desires to show his mercy to a person, the Lord acts, and by His grace one becomes a devotee. *— TLC Ch. 26* ### 20. Advanced devotees are compassionate and try to preach: When a person is advanced* *in spiritual consciousness or Kṛsṇa consciousness, he naturally becomes very sympathetic toward all living entities suffering in the material world. Naturally such an advanced person thinks of the suffering of the people in general.... If one is actually sympathetic to fallen, suffering humanity, he should try to elevate people from material consciousness to spiritual conscious.... By the grace of Kṛṣṇa, we may raise a person to spiritual consciousness if we ourselves follow the rules and regulations. If we give up our own spiritual activities and simply become concerned with the bodily comforts of others, we will fall into a dangerous position. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/5/8/9|5.8.9]]* ### 21. The preacher is the most compassionate personality towards all the fallen souls: His [a *sādhu's*] concern, therefore, is to enlighten people in devotional service to the Lord. That is his mercy. He knows that without devotional service to the Lord, human life is spoiled.... He is not satisfied with his own liberation. He always thinks about others. He is the most compassionate personality towards all the fallen souls. One of his qualifications, therefore, is *kāruṇika, *great mercy to the fallen souls. *— *Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam *[[sb/3/25/21|3.25.21]]*