6 / How to Discharge
Devotional Service

Srila Rupa Gosvami states that his elder brother (Sanatana Go-
svami) has compiled Hari-bhakti-vilasa for the guidance of the Vais-
navas, and therein has mentioned many rules and regulations to be
followed by the Vaisnavas. Some of them are very important and
prominent, and he will now mention these very important items for
our benefit. The purport of this statement is that Srila Ripa Gosvami
proposes to mention only basic principles, not details. For example,
a basic principle is that one has to accept a spiritual master. Exactly
how one follows the instructions of his spiritual master is considered
a detail. For example, if one is following the instruction of his spiri-
tual master and that instruction is different from the instructions of
another spiritual master, this is called detailed information. But the
basic principle of acceptance of a spiritual master is good everywhere,
although the details may be different. Srila Ripa Gosvami does not
wish to enter into details here, but he wants to place before us only
the principles.

He mentions the basic principles as follows: 1) accepting the shel-
ter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, 2) becoming ini-
tiated by the spiritual master and learning how to discharge devo-
tional service from him, 3) obeying the orders of the spiritual master
with faith and devotion, 4) following in the footsteps of great
acaryas (teachers) under the direction of the spiritual master,
5) inquiring from the spiritual master how to advance in Krsna
consciousness, 6) being prepared to give up anything material for
the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna
(This means that when we are engaged in the devotional service of

53
