View source for A devotee, an unflinching devotee, without any other desires, who is dedicated to the service of the Lord, he is sadhu

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{{terms|"a devotee, an unflinching devotee, without any other desires, who is dedicated to the service of the Lord, he is sādhu"}}
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[[Category:Unflinching Devotees of God]]
[[Category:Without Any]]
[[Category:Any Other]]
[[Category:Desire]]
[[Category:Who Is]]
[[Category:Dedication]]
[[Category:Devotional Service to God]]
[[Category:Sadhu - Devotees of God]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - SHARMISTHA]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>General Lectures</h3>
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If you want to find out defect, you'll find out in fire also. But that doesn't matter; fire is fire. Similarly, a devotee, an unflinching devotee, without any other desires, who is dedicated to the service of the Lord, he is sādhu. So we have to take shelter of such a sādhu.
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[[Vanisource:710317 - Lecture TLC - Bombay|710317 - Lecture TLC - Bombay]]
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Even if you have desires, not that anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), without any material desires . . . generally we go to temple, to God, for some . . . for fulfilling some material desires. So śāstra says even if you have got material desires, even if you are not śuddha bhakta . . . what to speak of śuddha bhakta, even if you are an enemy of Kṛṣṇa, some way or other go to Kṛṣṇa. Go to the fire and you'll get warm. That is our propaganda. The Gosvāmīs recommend, therefore, yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet: somehow or other you just try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then everything will be successful. That is our propaganda.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, sādhu śāstra kṛpāya. A sādhu means devotee. That I was going to explain. A sādhu, there are different kinds of sādhus, but only the devotee, he is sādhu. It is explained by Kṛṣṇa Himself: api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 9.30 (1972)|BG 9.30]]). He is sādhu.

Even if you find some defects in him due to his former habits, but he is simply engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, unflinching devotion, he is sādhu. He is sādhu, in spite of some defects. We must admit, even in fire there are some defects. Fire is so pure that anything impure you put into the fire, it becomes pure. Perhaps you know in our Hindu system if a one utensil becomes impure some time, you put it in the fire and it becomes pure. Is it not? Is it not?

Lady guest: Yes.

Prabhupāda: In Bengal this is the system.

Lady guest: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So fire is considered to be pure. Therefore any ceremony is done before fire god. So Kṛṣṇa says that even fire is so pure, still there are some defect, there is smoke. So if you want to find out defect, you'll find out in fire also. But that doesn't matter; fire is fire. Similarly, a devotee, an unflinching devotee, without any other desires, who is dedicated to the service of the Lord, he is sādhu. So we have to take shelter of such a sādhu. Ādau gurv-āśrayam.

And sādhu will instruct you—not by whims, but through śāstra. He is sādhu. Sādhu will never speak to you anything which is not in the śāstra. Sādhu, śāstra and guru. And guru is bona fide spiritual master who follows sādhu and śāstra. Who follows his bona fide spiritual master and who follows the instructions of śāstra, he is guru. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, tinete kariyā aikya.

Narottama dasa Ṭhākura says that you have to act by accommodating the instruction of sādhu, instruction of śāstra. And you have to distribute. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that these ignorant people who are being defeated repeatedly, such persons, they are being entangled in this materialistic way of life, in this material world. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva. He said: kṛṣṇa bhuli' sei jīva anādi-bahirmukha ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 20.117|CC Madhya 20.117]]). Anyone who has forgotten Kṛṣṇa, he is anādi bahir mukha: he is enamored by this external energy, material world.
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