Los Angeles Sastra Dana Newsletter
SRILA PRABHUPADA UVACA:
This transcendental achievement is so greatly valuable that no material happiness can compare to it. Prabhodhananda Sarasvati said that if one achieves the grace of Lord Caitanya he becomes so great that he does not care a fig even for the demigods, he thinks of monism as hellish, and for him the perfection of controlling the senses is as easy as anything. Heavenly pleasures become to him no more than stories. Actually, there is no comparison between material happiness and transcendental happiness.
(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3.23.7, Purport)
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura said that the position of a Vaisnava can be tested by seeing how good a touchstone he is—that is, by seeing how many Vaisnavas he has made during his life. A Vaisnava should be a touchstone so that he can convert others to Vaisnavism by his preaching, even though people may be fallen like the hunter. There are many so—called advanced devotees who sit in a place for their personal benefit. They do not go out to preach and convert others into Vaisnavas, and therefore they certainly cannot be called sparsa-mani, advanced devotees. Kanistha-adhikari devotees cannot turn others into Vaisnavas, but a madhyama-adhikari Vaisnava can do so by preaching.
(Cc. Madhya 24.277)
