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Commitment

Jayadvaita Swami: Prabhupada showed an exceedingly deep sense of duty. Many times he expressed that he was carrying out his duty to his spiritual master. I related that story of when Prabhupada conducted a big initiation and everyone was in ecstasy and Prabhupada said, "We have increased the parampara from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu." It was a matter of duty. Prabhupada was so balanced. He wasn't carried away by giddy enthusiasm, he wasnt depressed by set backs, he wasn't stopped by anything. He had a duty to perform, and he carried out that duty. As a matter of duty, he accepted the personal praise and gifts that were offered to him and offered them to his spiritual master and, through the parampara, to Krishna. The translating and publishing that he did, his priorities, the way he trained his disciples, was all in line with the duty that he'd been given by his spiritual master. And Prabhupada performed that duty with such commitment. Prabhupada was very serious about the duties that he performed, and at the same time he was joyful, he was jolly. Prabhupada said that the first symptom of a self-realized person is that he's jolly. Prabhupada could tell jokes. He could make plays on words. He could relax and have a good time with the devotees. And he could be cutting. He could be withering when he wanted to criticize. He could be sarcastic. He could be insistent. He could be many things but it was all in line with his duty as a servant of his spiritual master and a servant of Krishna. That quality of Srila Prabhupada's stands out in my mind.


Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa