Text 21]
The Glories of Devotional Service
1025
ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ
titikṣavaḥ —tolerant;  kāruṇikāḥ —merciful;  suhṛdaḥ —friendly;  sarva-dehinām —to all living entities;  ajāta-śatravaḥ —inimical to none;  śāntāḥ —peaceful;  sādhavaḥ —abiding by scriptures;  sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ —adorned with sublime characteristics.
TRANSLATION
The symptoms of a  sādhu  are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.
PURPORT
A  sādhu , as described above, is a devotee of the Lord. His concern, therefore, is to enlighten people in devotional service to the Lord. That is his mercy. He knows that without devotional service to the Lord, human life is spoiled. A devotee travels all over the country, from door to door, preaching, “Be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Be a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Don’t spoil your life in simply fulfilling your animal propensities. Human life is meant for self-realization or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” These are the preachings of a  sādhu . He is not satisfied with his own liberation. He always thinks about others. He is the most compassionate personality towards all the fallen souls. ● one of his qualifications, therefore, is  kāruṇika , great mercy to the fallen souls. While engaged in preaching work he has to meet with so many opposing elements, and therefore the  sādhu  or devotee of the Lord has to be very tolerant. Someone may ill-treat him because the conditioned souls are not prepared to receive the transcendental knowledge of devotional service. They don’t like it; that is their disease. The  sādhu  has the thankless task of impressing upon them the importance of devotional service. Sometimes devotees are personally attacked with violence. Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, Haridāsa Thākura was caned in twenty-two market-places, and Lord Caitanya’s principal assistant, Nityānanda, was violently attacked by Jagāi and Mādhāi. But still they were tolerant because their mission was to deliver the fallen souls. ● one of the qualifications of a  sādhu  is that he is very tolerant and is merciful to all fallen souls. He is merciful because he is the well-wisher of all living entities. He is not only a well-wisher of human society, but a well-wisher of animal society as well. It is said here,  sarva-dehinām , which indicates all living entities who have