Vaiṣṇava is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Practically every person, 99.9%, they are under the impression that "I am this body." This conception of life is animal consciousness. The dog is thinking, "I am this body." The cat is thinking, "I am this body." But actually we are not these bodies. That is the first instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. So, especially in the modern age, people are thinking like that, and they are unhappy. They don’t believe in the next life, although practically we see, every moment you are changing bodies.
So on the whole, lokasya ajānataḥ, they do not know what is the value of life. This is the position.
- anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād
- bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje
- lokasyājānato vidvāṁś
- cakre sātvata-saṁhitām
- (SB 1.7.6)
This is Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva compiled the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The purpose was that anartha, anartha . . . This body is anartha. Anartha means unnecessary. But we are put into such condition that this . . . We are busy with . . . (break) . . . we don’t require, just like to remain without any dress, that is the original condition. Now you can dress with so many outward coverings. But we spirit soul, we do not require this material dress, but somehow or other we have got it. This is anartha. Anartha means unwanted. So anarthopaśamam, how to get out of this anartha, unwanted thing. That means is bhakti-yoga. Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje lokasya ajānatah. People, though, do not know it. They are in the darkness of ignorance. Therefore this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, assimilate it and preach in your own language. Or repeat whatever there is in the purport. Yesterday I was very much pleased to read the essays by our Bali-mardana dāsa. So similarly, you also write. Writing means if you have digested the idea, you can produce in your own words. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. One who has actually heard attentively, his next business will be how to describe it, kīrtanaṁ. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. One who has heard nicely from the spiritual master, the next business will be how to chant it, repeat it. That is natural. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam . . . (SB 7.5.23). These are the nine different processes.
So we have published so many books, not that simply for selling to others. We must read also, and digest, and write articles in our Back to Godhead. That is thoughtfulness. Vaiṣṇava, that another qualification is that he is a poet. Poet does not mean to write only big, big poetry; he is also maybe. Poet means one who can write. That is, out of the twenty-six qualifications, one of the qualification is every Vaiṣṇava should be expert in writing and . . . (indistinct) . . . That is required. These are the qualifications. And dakṣa. Dakṣa means very expert. Any . . . Any business you give to Vaiṣṇava, he will be able to do it very nicely. There are twenty-six qualifications. So we have to develop these qualification. Vaiṣṇava does not means idle fools. No. Vaiṣṇava means expert in everything. Whatever Kṛṣṇa orders, there is. Very good.