The Ideal Preacher

Srila Prabhupada's commentary on the Bhagavatam opens with a life sketch of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the ideal preacher of the Bhagavatam.

The personal character of the preacher is an integral part of the message that he preaches. The Sanskrit word for preaching: pracar has integral within it the Sanskrit word for the personal comportment of the preacher: acar. In English we say that you should "practice what you preach". In Sanskrit, what you practice is what you preach.

In his translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.2.18 Srila Prabhupada imports two meanings to the phrase nityam bhagavata-sevaya - "By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee". On the trascendental plane the message and the medium are one and the same.

So without being ideal yourself, you cannot preach an ideal message, or cause others to become ideal. The analogy is given that an iron rod may be placed in fire, at which point it takes on the quality of fire and is able to light further fires itself. Our potency to effect change comes from our own submission to the process of change.

For a brahmacari to admit that he is unauthorized by his spiritual master to speak is an admission that his behaviour is less than ideal. For him to then go on to extensively speak on the subject of the behaviour of others and what they should be doing is hypocritical. There is a fundamental incongruity between what you are saying ("this is ideal behaviour and you should be doing it") and what you are doing yourself.

In Bhagavad-gita Krishna describes the austerity of the brahmacaris in this way:

Some [the unadulterated brahmacārīs] sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of mental control

- Bhagavad-gita 4.26

A brahmacari is offered the respect due the ashram because of his conformance with the ashram. He is a limb of his guru. By this association he becomes worthy of respect. In Srimad Bhagavatam 4.19.12 Srila Prabhupada warns against misuse of the saffron cloth, while explaining how this was first introduced by Indra.

To demand that others "accept Srila Prabhupada's instructions as they are" in the area of social duties while simultaneously failing to do so yourself is analogous to preaching that "you must believe in Jesus" while failing to observe Jesus' basic teachings.

Ravindra Svarupa prabhu in his seminar on ISKCON History talks about the concept of "rectification of names", a concept described in the Analects of Confucius.

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything. Let the ruler be ruler, the minister minister, the father father and the son son

So let the brahmacari first be a brahmacari before he speaks about what everyone else should be doing.

Otherwise whatever we accept on that faulty basis will have no permanent beneficial effect. Whatever may be good there is mixed with something very unhealthy.