Prabhupada, Los Angeles, February 18, 1969: […] So a Krishna conscious person cannot sit idly. He thinks that such a nice philosophy of life, why it should not be distributed? That is his mission. A yogi may be satisfied with his own elevation. He is sitting in a secluded place, practicing yoga, elevating himself to transcendental life. That is his personal concern. But a devotee is not satisfied simply elevating himself, his personal. We offer our respect to the Vaishnavas:
vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca krpa-sindhubhya eva ca patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah
Vaishnava is he, devotee is he who is very compassionate to these conditioned souls. Krpa-sindhubhya eva ca. Krpa means mercy, and sindhu means ocean. A devotee is ocean of mercy. He wants to distribute the mercy.
Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he was God conscious, Krishna conscious but he was not satisfied in himself. If he would have continued his God consciousness alone, he would not have met crucification. But, no. He wanted to take care of others also, the others should be God conscious. Others should be Krishna conscious. He was forbidden by the king not to do that.
So at the risk of his life he did it. That is the nature of devotee. Therefore the preacher devotee is the most dearest devotee of Lord. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. They are going outside, they are preaching, they are meeting opposing elements. Sometimes they are defeated, sometimes disappointed, sometimes able to convince, there are different kinds of people.
So, not that every devotee is very well equipped. There are three classes of devotees also. But that endeavor, that “I shall go and preach Krishna consciousness”, is the best service to the Lord. Because they are trying in opposition to elevate people to the highest standard of self-realization.
So one who has seen, one who is in trance of self-realization, he cannot sit idly. He must come out. He, just like Ramanujacarya. He declared the mantra publicly. Full Lecture
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