Understand Srimad-Bhagavatam, learn Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita and become a guru
Gopinath Acharya das : Srila Prabhupada gave a darshan to the devotees. Now, Srila Prabhupada, from what I remember, didn't very often give darshans to the general devotees. So it was a special occasion. We were all called up to his room, and we were all sitting there and Srila Prabhupada is sitting at his desk. It was quite a casual affair - well, a loving affair, put it that way.
Srila Prabhupada was basking in the association of his disciples, and his disciples were doing the same. At one particular point, a devotee got up. His name is Gopikanta. He was a brahmacari, and he'd been to Japan to help collect for the Nama Hatta program. So he got up and he stood in a particular way, and everyone else was sitting down so this was very dramatic. He's a big person and he stood with his hands almost like in a karate style for emphasis, and he said to Srila Prabhupada, "Srila Prabhupada, I know there are so many things that please you. But I want to know what will please you the most, I mean the most. What will please you the most?" So, many of us might have been thinking that Srila Prabhupada is going to say "distributing my books," and that's what I was thinking. But it really sticks in my mind because Srila Prabhupada didn't say that. Basically he said and this is pretty revolutionary for those times because we could not conceive that there was going to be a time, at least I didn't, when Srila Prabhupada wasn't going to be with us. But he said, "Understand Srimad-Bhagavatam, learn Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita and become a guru. Try to deliver everyone in your land or the world. If not the world, in your land." Srila Prabhupada never actually said such a thing to us. Because in other conversations Srila Prabhupada said, "That doesn't mean that one advertises oneself as a guru." Actually it means become qualified as a guru, which means really to become a perfect disciple.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Gopinath Acharya Dasa
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