View source for If you're not very fixed up then should you still go out and preach?

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{{terms|"if you're not very fixed up then should you still go out and preach"}}
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{{compiler|MadhuGopaldas|Rishab}}
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[[Category:Questions asked to Srila Prabhupada]]
[[Category:Questions asked to SP... 1976]]
[[Category:Questions On... Preaching, Spreading Krsna Consciousness]]
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<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="GardenConversationSeptember61976Vrndavana_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="298" link="Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana" link_text="Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana">
<div class="heading">No, nobody is fixed. Nobody is perfect. But by rendering service he becomes perfect. The more you render service you become perfect. Not that in one day you become perfect.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana|Garden Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Vipramukhya: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I go tomorrow to Delhi and I'll leave to go to Istanbul.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Very good. Go with the blessings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma.  (CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126) Very good. Kṛṣṇa will save you. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and depend on Kṛṣṇa. Then everything's all right. Don't be afraid that you are going to foreign country. There is no foreign country.</p>
<p>Caraṇāravindam: Kṛṣṇa's everywhere.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Īśāvāsyam idam—everything's Kṛṣṇa's. Mārobi rākhobi jo icchā tohārā. Surrender means that. "Kṛṣṇa, I have surrendered to You. Now if You like You can protect me. If you like You can kill me. Whatever you like, do." That's all. Mārobi rākhobi jo icchā tohārā nitya-dāsa prati tuwā adhikārā. "I am your eternal servant. You have got full right. Either you kill me or protect me, that is your business. But I surrender." Bas. This is surrender. Mārobi rākhobi jo icchā tohārā. This is surrender. If you put me into inconvenience, then I'm not going to surrender. That is conditional. (laughs) Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says whatever you like you can do. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. Āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām marma-hatāṁ karotu vā adarśanān, yathā tathā vā vidadhātu ([[Vanisource:CC Antya 20.47|CC Antya 20.47]]). Whatever you like you do. Yathā tathā vā. Yathā tathā, whatever you like. It is up to you. I don't object. Yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo.</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: If one is not a very strong devotee, should one have that same attitude of going...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is wanted. Dṛḍha-vrata. That is perfection. Bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: No, he's saying if you're not very fixed up then should you still go out and preach. If you're not very fixed up...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, nobody is fixed. Nobody is perfect. But by rendering service he becomes perfect. The more you render service you become perfect. Not that in one day you become perfect.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: Because I remember you also said that preaching is not for neophytes. You also said...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Neophyte means that kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. One worships the Deity very nicely but he does not like to do good to others. Neither he knows who is Vaiṣṇava. He's neophyte. He is, in the arcanā, he's fixed up, he's doing very nicely. Arcāyām eva haraye. Yaḥ śraddhā..., pūjāṁ yaḥ śraddhayehate na tad-bhakteṣu. One does not understand who is bhakta. Na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu. And how to do good to others. But he's doing the Deity worship very nicely. Sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ. He's prākṛta. But he can advance when his, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, he understands "Here is a Vaiṣṇava. Here is an innocent man. He should be given some enlightenment." That is preacher. When he'll feel for others. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Śoce tato vimukha-cetasa. "I am thinking of these rascals who are averse to you." Tato vimukha-cetasa. And that is Vaiṣṇava. Advanced devotee. For me I have no anxiety. Naivodvije para duratyaya-vai... There may be so many dangers. I don't care for them. Naiva udvije. "I am not disturbed by all these things." Udvije. Para duratyaya. Even it is very insurmountable, dangerous position, I don't care. How? Tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 7.9.43|SB 7.9.43]])." Because when I think of You, chant of Your glories, I don't care for that." Then you appear to be morose? "Yes." Why? Śoce tato vimukha-cetasa. "I am thinking of these rascals who are averse to You. How to do... They are engaged in false activities, māyā-sukhāya, for temporary happiness of the senses. So I am thinking like them. Therefore I am morose. For me I have no anxiety." And actually, what Prahlāda Mahārāja... He was thrown to the fire, he was thrown from the hill and underneath the... He didn't care. "Whatever you'll do I'll chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So how he'll be unhappy for himself? He has already passed all these examinations. His father! Not other. His own father. He's helpless. He's under father's care, and the father is giving so much trouble. All right, if he likes, go on. Everyone expects affection from the father. He's five years old boy. Where he will go? No, no, no, no. "I'll take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and you can go on with your business. I don't care for your punishment."</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: Such stage of Bhakti is very rare, Prabhupāda. To be on such a high platform is very rare. To be fearless.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhakti itself is rare. Bhakti is not cheap. Don't think it is cheap commodity. There is a verse, I now forget. Kṛṣṇa can give you liberation, but He hesitates to give bhakti.</p>
<p>Harikeśa: Muktiṁ dadāti karhicit sma na bhakti-yogam.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Mukti, He is prepared, "All right, take mukti." But when there is bhakti, He has to consider twice. Bhakti means he becomes in the grip of bhakta. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33).</p>
<p>Caraṇāravindam: Are we doing bhakti, Śrīla Prabhupāda?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is viddhi-bhakti. And this is rāga-bhakti, spontaneous. Through viddhi-bhakti you have to come to the stage of rāga-bhakti. Without viddhi-bhakti, you'll not... Because you are conditioned. Those who are liberated, they immediately get rāga-bhakti. Not by imitation. That is another thing. Nitya-siddha. (Japa:) Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma... So I have got all encouragement. Go and preach. Don't be afraid. Simply present, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 7.128|CC Madhya 7.128]]). Whatever you have learned from Kṛṣṇa, from your guru, just vomit it, that's all. There is no need of becoming very expert. Simply whatever you learned. That's all.</p>
<p>Harikeśa: Lots of kīrtana and prasādam?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That's it. That is our main... Anyone will like. Chant mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and give them prasādam, and everyone will take.</p>
<p>Harikeśa: I think puris and halavā, there isn't a person in the world who doesn't like it.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Anything you'll nicely prepare, tastefully, people will like. (Japa:) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have learned cooking? I'm asking... Huh? What you have learned? What preparation you can make?</p>
<p>Devotee : Many different kinds of preparations.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Tell me something.</p>
<p>Harikeśa: Tell Prabhupāda some.</p>
<p>Caraṇāravindam: Ah... Most of the kitchen preparations (indistinct) one gets in India. Iddlies (indistinct) ...things like that.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Oh, he knows so many things. You have learned something? You?</p>
<p>Devotee: Very little. I can cook halavā and puris. Simple things. I can cook sweet rice. Sweet rice I can cook.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Sweet rice. That is very sweet for you. (laughs) The Europeans and Americans, they like sweet rice. Is it not?</p>
<p>Harikeśa: Oh yes.</p>
<p>Devotee: I think they like halavā the best, Prabhupāda.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Ācchā? If halavā is made nicely, actually it is best. So prepare all these things. Offer to Kṛṣṇa and devotees, and at last you take. Don't take first. Give all, as much as you like, then you take. Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam ([[Vanisource:BG 9.2 (1972)|BG 9.2]]). It is such a nice movement. It is simply pleasing. To execute, it is simply pleasing. And avyayam. Whatever you do is permanent. Whatever little service you have given. It will never be lost. Avyayam. Therefore Nārada Muni says, bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi. Even if he's not fully matured and falls down, kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kim. Where is loss? Whatever he has done, that is permanent. Because that will grow. If the seed is permanently sown, then it will naturally grow. It may take some time, but it will grow. So he's not loser. If he's little careful, then it will grow. Mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa, śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye... Then the creeper goes, grows, and at last takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa. These are described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.</p>
<p>Vipramukhya: When we prepare a feast we should give and give and give, and when no one wants any more then...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Up until he comes to this point. Not only this point, but up to this point. Eat as much as you like. We are not miser. You eat. As much you want I shall supply. But don't waste. Eat. Don't waste.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: This morning you were saying that fasting is very good. (laughter)</p>
<p>Harikeśa: I was just thinking about that.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No. Not prasādam. I never said. No, those who want to eat... Fasting... One who has not developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for him fasting. And one who takes pleasure, "Oh, it is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, or Kṛṣṇa's food. I'll take." This is the idea. So we are not devotees, therefore we should first fast. And those who are devotees, they'll take as much as they like. I was telling fasting because I am not a devotee. (laughs) For me fasting is good. If I eat more-atyāhāraḥ. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca, ṣaḍbhir bhaktir praṇaśyati ([[Vanisource:NOI 2|NOI 2]]).</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: If you can appreciate kṛṣṇa-prasādam without filling up to the neck...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. It is for the devotee. A devotee can eat. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu was eating. Govinda, his servant complained, "Sir, so many things are lying here and everyone asks, 'Whether Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taken my preparation.' 'Oh yes, He has taken.' So I have to speak so many lies. You don't take. What can I do?" He said, "All right, bring it. Bring it." So He began to eat for one hundred men's foodstuff stocked. He finished. Then He asked, "Any more?" So, now only the bags are there. Everything finished. (laughs) So He ate. Everything, one after another, one after another, one after another. "All right. Bring, bring, bring." So He can eat. We cannot. This water is going there? It is going only one side and not other side? (indistinct)</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it a sign of advancement in devotional service...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Branch?</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: Advancement. If somebody wants to preach. Is that the sign of advancement?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Oh yes.</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: That's the first sign.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: When one is very anxious to preach, that is advancement.</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: And if one is not very anxious to preach, he is not very advanced.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Then he should stick to Deity worship very nicely. Following the rules and regulations, cleansing. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau **. This nitya, you take very seriously.</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: And then when he becomes advanced....</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Automatically he will be anxious to preach. Automatically.</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: Ultimately.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Not ultimately. Automatically. Just like in a small time, our, that Kṛṣṇa dāsa? He knows English, he knows French, he knows... What does it mean? He has heard it. Now he'll want to speak. That is the natural sequence. If anyone has listened from the authority about Kṛṣṇa, he wants to speak again. That is preaching. Not that "I have listened about Kṛṣṇa, that's all right." No. When he wants to speak to others, that is advancement. That is wanted. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. That is the test that he has advanced. Nāma, rūpa, guṇa, līlā (indistinct).</p>
<p>Devotee: Does he have to speak immediately, or he can speak after some time.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, no, not immediately. Immediately how you can speak. Unless he knows, what he'll speak? It is better not to speak than speaking all nonsense. He must learn first of all what is the philosophy, what is the science. Then he can speak. (break)</p>
<p>Vipramukhya:. These Turks are yavanas? Demons and yavanas?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Materially there are so many divisions, but spiritual they are all servant of Kṛṣṇa. Nobody is yavana, nobody is brāhmaṇa. Everyone is servant of Kṛṣṇa. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 5.18 (1972)|BG 5.18]]). We are going there not to make the yavanas a brāhmaṇa. That is not our mission. Our business is... We know that he is servant of Kṛṣṇa. Forgetting Kṛṣṇa, he's thinking himself as Turkish, as Muhammadan, as Jewish, as Christian. This is his disease. So let me cure his disease. Why he should be called yavana? That is artificial. He's Kṛṣṇa dāsa. Jivera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Just like when a physician treats a patient, does he think that here is a Christian, here is a Muhammadan, here is a Hindu? He takes as patient. Never mind what he is. And he gives treatment. He never thinks that here is a Christian patient, here is a Muhammadan patient. He is patient. Give me this, bring him medicine. That is physician's business. Why should we consider, "Here is a Christian patient. He should be treated differently than the Muhammadan." Does he think like that? Does he think? Does any physician honestly think that "Here is a Christian patient, special care should be taken for him?" No. If he is physician, he should give the equal treatment to everyone.</p>
<p>Akṣayānanda: If he doesn't have any money he may... (end)</p>
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