Best disciple

Expressions researched:
"best disciple" |"best disciples"

General Lectures

That is our request, that you take full advantage of this center. You come here. It is being guided by one of my best disciples, Bhagavān dāsa. So he and others will help you. Please come regularly to this temple and take advantage of it.

Lecture -- Detroit, July 16, 1971:

We want to unite the whole world under this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And actually that is happening. In our society we have got devotees from all section of people—from Christian, from Jews, from Hindus, from Muhammadan, from black, from white. It doesn't matter, because we are seeing according to the Bhagavad-gītā, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). A learned man sees every living entity on the equal level. So we are trying to see in that light, and we are trying to teach others also how to accept that light, how to enjoy that light. So it is a very serious movement. You can take. Every one of you can take advantage of it. It is not very difficult to practice, because our process is very simple. You come and chant with us Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can pronounce this word Hare Kṛṣṇa. Actually we are seeing all over the world. There is no difficulty to chant this mantra. It is open. There is no secrecy, that "I shall give you one mantra, a particular mantra for you." No. This mantra is one, and it is equally applicable to everyone—to the learned, to the ignorant, to the white, to the black, to the old, to the youth. Everyone can chant. And actually it is happening. It is very easy. And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and learn how to chant. There is... Of course, there is no hard and fast rules. You begin chanting in whatever condition you are and see the result. And so far examples, we have got our temples, we have got our devotees. How they are living, how their characters are being formed, how they are becoming purified, how their faces are becoming brighter, you try to see. It is practical. So that is our request, that you take full advantage of this center. You come here. It is being guided by one of my best disciples, Bhagavān dāsa. So he and others will help you. Please come regularly to this temple and take advantage of it.

Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya was a gṛhastha. He was a responsible government officer. Still, he was the best disciple of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 23, 1977:

Prabhupāda: So Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu's one of the confidential devotees was an Oriya, this Rāmānanda Rāya and Śikhi Māhiti. So it is a great opportunity for the Oriyas to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness science through the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We are discussing the talks between Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Rāmānanda Rāya. You'll kindly hear and take advantage of it and be benefited. (break) So we can, if they require, any question-answer. (break)

Guest (1): ...Kṛṣṇa consciousness in gṛhastha āśrama?

Prabhupāda: They follow Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya. He was a gṛhastha. He was a responsible government officer. Still, he was the best disciple of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Rāmānanda Rāya, while talking with Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he was feeling little shamefulness because Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a great sannyāsī and coming from a very respectable brāhmaṇa family, and Rāmānanda Rāya, he belonged to the Kharan(?) caste of Orissa, and he was gṛhastha, at the same time in government service. So he was feeling little shamefulness, that "I am teaching Caitanya Mahāprabhu." So when he was feeling like that, Caitanya Mahāprabhu encouraged him,

kibā vipra kibā śūdra nyāsī kene naya

yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya

(CC Madhya 8.128)

"You become a sannyāsī or you become a gṛhastha or you are a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness has nothing to do with these material things. If you know actually what is Kṛṣṇa, then you can become guru." Another place also, Kṛṣṇa, er, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that

yei bhaje sei baḍa abhakta hīna chāra

kṛṣṇa-bhajane te nāhi jāti-kulādi-vicāra

(CC Antya 4.67)

"Anyone who is a devotee, he is great, and who is not devotee, he may declare himself as great, but he is the most fallen." In the devotional service there is no such distinction as jāti and kula. So if you follow—the example is there in your country, Rāmānanda Rāya—then wherever you are, you are exalted. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, he has also said—he is ācārya-gṛhe vā vanete thāke hā gaurāṅga bale ḍāke narottama māge tāra saṅga: "It doesn't matter whether he is a gṛhastha or he's a sannyāsī." Vanete means vānaprastha, sannyāsī. "Wherever he may be, if he's actually a perfect devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, I want his association. Never mind." Gṛhe vā vanete thāke hā gaurāṅga bale ḍāke narottama māge tāra saṅga.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī later on, when I was young man, manager in Dr. Bose's laboratory... That my friend, Narend Mullik, he took me. There is direction. For real guru one can give up this professional guru.

Conversation about Old Days in Calcutta -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: In Bengal there was professional guru. They travel from one house to another. Our paternal guru was coming like that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a professional guru also?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You had a paternal guru?

Prabhupāda: Yes. I was initiated by that professional guru at the age of twelve years. Later on I rejected him.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I wonder if he had any thought that his disciple, Your Divine Grace, would be one day such a devotee all over the world. You always said that's the perfection of a guru, if he has good disciple. So your professional guru had a best disciple.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī later on, when I was young man, manager in Dr. Bose's laboratory... That my friend, Narend Mullik, he took me. There is direction. For real guru one can give up this professional guru.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Prabhupāda: So all of a sudden I remember this Nanda Dulal Gosai. I was thinking of him. What a great devotee he was. He was observing some of the festivals, I think, Janmāṣṭamī or Nandotsava, something, inviting friends, offering good prasādam. And he was living in a quarter full of Muhammadans.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Full of Marwaris.

Prabhupāda: Muhammadans.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Muhammadans.

Prabhupāda: Low-class Muhammadans.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He didn't mind that?

Prabhupāda: No, at that time they were so friendly.

1976 Correspondence

You have given me the credit of being the best disciple of Prabhupada. That is very kind of you, but I am just trying to serve him. Whatever success there is is due to his mercy.

Letter to Syama Sundarji -- Vrindaban 15 November, 1976:

You have given me the credit of being the best disciple of Prabhupada. That is very kind of you, but I am just trying to serve him. Whatever success there is is due to his mercy. In my last meeting with him in Radha Kunda he advised me to print some books if I get money. I took it very seriously and by His grace we have now published my translations of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrta, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Upadesamrta, etc. to the extent of 84 books. You'll be surprised to know that these books and my magazine Back To Godhead are selling daily 5-6 lakhs of rupees in the foreign countries. Out of such proceeds I am bringing foreign exchange of not less than 10 lakhs per month for construction work in Bombay, Mayapur, Vrndavana, etc. So, this is all due to the blessings of Srila Prabhupada. I have no credit in this connection. These American boys are helping me in this endeavor, therefore, until they are admitted to the Jagannatha Puri temple I'm not inclined to go there.