1248 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 29

TRANSLATION

The pure devotee should execute devotional service by giving the
greatest respect to the spiritual master and the acaryas. He should be
compassionate to the poor and make friendship with persons who are his
equals, but all his activities should be executed under regulation and with
control of the senses.

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gita, Thirteenth Chapter, it is clearly stated that one should
execute devotional service and advance on the path of spiritual knowledge
by accepting the acarya. Acaryopasanam: one should worship an acarya,
a spiritual master who knows things as they are. The spiritual master must
be in the disciplic succession from Krsna. The predecessors of the spiritual
master are his spiritual master, his grand spiritual master, his great grand
spiritual master and so on, who form the disciplic succession of acaryas.

It is recommended herewith that all the acaryas be given the highest
respect. It is stated, gurusu nara-matih. Gurusu means “unto the @caryas”
and nara-matih means “thinking like a common man.” To think of the
Vaisnavas, the devotees, as belonging to a particular caste or community,
to think of the acaryas as ordinary men, or to think of the Deity in the
temple as being made of stone, wood or metal, is condemned. Niyamena:
one should offer the greatest respect to the acaryas according to the stan-
dard regulations. A devotee should also be compassionate to the poor.
This does not refer to those who are poverty-stricken materially. Accord-
ing to devotional vision, a man is poor if he is not in Krsna consciousness.
A man may be very rich materially, but if he is not Krsna conscious, he is
considered poor. On the other hand, many acaryas, such as Ripa Gosvami
and Sanatana Gosvami, used to live beneath trees every night. Super-
ficially it appeared that they were very poverty-stricken, but from their
writings we can understand that in spiritual life they were the richest
personalities.

A devotee shows compassion to those poor souls who are wanting in
spiritual knowledge by enlightening them in order to elevate them to
Krsna consciousness. That is one of the duties of a devotee. He should also
make friendship with persons who are on an equal level with himself or
who have the same understanding that he does. For a devotee, there is no
point in making friendships with ordinary persons; he should make friend-
ship with other devotees so that by discussing among themselves, they
