Srila Prabhupada defines who is a disciple by who follows the discipic succession of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
March 9 1974 Mayapur
Guest (2): But there are so many disciples of one guru. Are they come all in bona fide disciplic succession?
Prabhupāda: Hmmm? Well, everyone is in a bona fide disciplic succession provided he keeps that tradition, keeps that tradition. Āpani ācari prabhu jīve śikhāilā. One must behave that “I belong to this disciplic succession. I must keep myself fit for the post.” Then it is all right. If he deviates, then he deviates the disciplic succession. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says frankly that… This is disciplic succession. Āmāra ājñāya: “Just carry out My order.” Then you are in disciplic succession. If you do not keep yourself in the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, then simply by becoming disciple, you are not in the disciplic succession. This is disciplic succession. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said this clearly, āmāra ājñāya guru haña tāra ei: “Wherever you live, you become a spiritual master.” How? Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa: [Cc. Madhya 7.128] “Whomever you meet, you only speak what Kṛṣṇa has instructed.” Then you are disciplic succession. It doesn’t matter what you are and where you are. It doesn’t matter. This is disciplic succession. And if you think, “Now I am initiated. I am now liberated. I have no other business,” then you are not in the disciplic succession. You must preach. That is disciplic succession.
Guest (1): This is the definition of a disciple.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Āmāra ājñāya guru haña tāra ei deśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128], yāre dekha… You have to… Anywhere, any friend, any businessman, “Are you Kṛṣṇa conscious? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.” That’s all.What is the loss in that? “My dear friend, I request you to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.” Where is the difficulty?
2.) Adi 9.42 Translation—“It is the duty of every living being to perform welfare activities for the benefit of others with his life, wealth, intelligence and words.”
PURPORT-There are two kinds of general activities-śreyas, or activities which are ultimately beneficial and auspicious, and preyas, or those which are immediately beneficial and auspicious. For example, children are fond of playing. They don’t want to go to school to receive an education, and they think that to play all day and night and enjoy with their friends is the aim of life. Even in the transcendental life of Lord Kṛṣṇa, we find that when He was a child He was very fond of playing with His friends of the same age, the cowherd boys. He would not even go home to take His dinner. Mother Yaśodā would have to come out to induce Him to come home. Thus it is a child’s nature to engage all day and night in playing, not caring even for his health and other important concerns. This is an example of preyas, or immediately beneficial activities. But there are also śreyas, or activities which are ultimately auspicious. According to Vedic civilization, a human being must be God conscious. He should understand what God is, what this material world is, who he is, and what their interrelationships are. This is called śreyas, or ultimately auspicious activity.
In this verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that one should be interested in śreyas. To achieve the ultimate goal of śreyas, or good fortune, one should engage everything, including his life, wealth and words, not only for himself but for others also. However, unless one is interested in śreyas in his own life, he cannot preach of śreyas for the benefit of others. This verse cited by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu applies to human beings, not to animals.
Some conclusions-– From the two above verses we can see clearly who Srila Prabhupada considers his true disciples-those that try to actively spread the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
We can do that in 4 ways-by our life, by our wealth, by our words and by our intelligence. As Krsna Bhaktas, we must preach by example as action is far better than precept. So if our home is a temple of Krsna, and we invite friends to come and chant with us, then that is preaching by all the above four items. However it doesn’t just stop there, as the instruction by Caitanya Mahaprabu means whomever we meet, as we move about this world, , and wherever we may meet them we should say something to them about Krsna. If we are dressed as Vaisnavas, that is preaching, if we are dressed as modern day gentlemen and women, we can give them a book or pamphlet and that will initially satisfy our duty to the Lord by trying to spread His message. And of course nobody will want to even do this unless we follow the 4 regulative principles, chant at least 16 rounds of Hare Krsna mantra on mala daily, offer all we eat to our Deities, worship tulsi devi, rise for mongol arotik, and read the books for some time every day. If we do all these things we will have the spiritual strength to preach. And preachers is what Srila Prabhupada wants, not disciples who just sit and home, watch TV or text on cell phones while they chant their rounds. Etc etc etc…
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
we grow over a hundred tomato plants in the summer and get fresh tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, canned tomato juice and dried tomatoes for later cooking in the year.
here is some of the dried and stored bean jars along with some summer corn harvest, a lot
of which we dry inside for later grinding into flour. And for this “work” we have enough food
for the entire year. It takes a bit of work in early spring, and late summer, and we are done
for our food storage for the entire year– Just as Srila Prahbupada tells us to do.
