July 19 1977
Prabhupāda: …known as a religious man so that they can do business very exploitively. They were called by class=”highlight”>Guru class=”highlight”>Mahārāja, dharma-dhvaji.(?) Exploit (Bengali). class=”highlight”>Guru class=”highlight”>Mahārāja used to say dharma-dhvaji. “class=”highlight”>Daṇḍavat class.” Yes. He knows simply to offer daṇḍavats. (laughs) Even so nice word: “Oh, class=”highlight”>he’s a class=”highlight”>daṇḍavat class.” My class=”highlight”>Guru class=”highlight”>Mahārāja was very humorous. He was a Calcutta bhap.(?) Therefore he liked me. All others, they came from East Bengal. I was the only disciple, Calcutta. All others…

Oct 19 1972

So dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ, notpādayed yadi ratim [SB 1.2.8]. This hearing process is very, very important. But people are not interested in hearing. They are simply busy in some other duties. My Guru Mahārāja used to say… One who was not interested in hearing, he used to call him a daṇḍavat-class. Daṇḍavat-class of men. That means simply he knows how to make daṇḍavats, that’s all. (laughter) Anyone who will come to him, he would see whether he is a daṇḍavat-class of man or hearing class of man. So daṇḍavat is nice, but by offering daṇḍavat, if one does not develop the intent of hearing, śravaṇam, then he is not making very much progress. As you know, because I was little interested in hearing, my Guru Mahārāja, he accepted me as his disciple. He marked this. “This boy is interested in hearing. He does not go away.” Actually, I do not know. I could not understand what he was speaking in the beginning, but still I was very much interested to hear him, out of curiosity or something like that. So hearing is very important thing.

SB 6.1.41-42 — Surat, December 23, 1970
Devotee (1): A devotee becomes more surrendered because the influence of the modes, the three modes, becomes diminished, or is the influence just changed from ignorance and passion to goodness?
Srila Prabhupāda: The surrender means surrender to whom?
Devotee (1): To Kṛṣṇa and to Your Divine Grace.
Srila Prabhupāda: So that surrender means to accept his orders. The spiritual master trains the disciple in the way of goodness quality. So if you do not abide the orders of spiritual master, what is the use of your surrender? Surrender means ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyasya varjanam (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.676). Anukūla, favorable things, should be accepted. And you do not know.
Therefore spiritual master will direct you, “This is favorable. This is unfavorable. Don’t smoke—this is unfavorable.” But if you don’t accept the instruction, what is the meaning of surrender? Simply by offering obeisances, falling flat for the time being, that is not surrender.
Devotee (2): Daṇḍavat.
Srila Prabhupāda: Daṇḍavat class. Surrender means you must abide strictly the orders, sad-dharma-pṛcchā, ādau gurvāśrayam. To accept a guru means . . . Śiṣya means one must agree to be governed by the spiritual master. That is called śiṣya. Śiṣya . . . Śās-dhātu. From śās-dhātu all these terms—śāstra, śastra, śiṣya, śāsana—these are words derived from the root śās-dhātu.
Śās-dhātu means śāsana, governing. The governing is done by military, governing is done by law books, governing is done by personal instruction, so many things. So śiṣya means who voluntarily accepts to be guided or being governed by the representative of God. That is śiṣya.