Look for the Good in Others

Everyone of us here in this material world has some bad qualities. Therefore it very easy for us to find fault with others. But although each of us is honeycombed with so many faults, due to false pride it is very difficult for us to see the faults in ourselves. These bad qualities are not the actual nature of the self. They are simply covering the pure good qualities within, like clouds which are hiding the sun.

The transcendentalist, the self-realized person, is not very eager to see the faults in others. He prefers to instead see the faults in himself and the intrinsic good within the hearts of all. This is why we are inspired to be on our best behavior when we are in the presence of great saintly persons. Because they like to see the good side of us we try to please them by only manifesting our good qualities in their presence. Gradually by the association of these great saintly persons the fog of our bad qualifies will be burned away by the purifying sun of their divine association. However those who are demoniac become envious of such great saintly persons and sometimes harass, torture and even kill them as we see in the case of Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, they couldn't really kill, but they tried to kill him.

The question might be raised that why then does the spiritual master point out the faults in his disciples? Is this not a fault-finding materialistic propensity? The answer is that it is the duty of the spiritual master to point and rectify the faults in the hearts of his disciples. Therefore as a loving service to them he sees and corrects their faults. He sees his disciples as valuable diamonds which need to be polished and refined. In other words while seeing their good qualities he points out their bad qualities so that their good qualities, which he so much appreciates, can become even more prominent and gradually displace all of their bad qualities.

Srila Prabhupada Encourages Everyone to Surrender to Krishna

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: How to Serve Devotees?

Respected Gurudeva,

Kindly accept my humble obeisances at your feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and your world preaching.

I often hear about serving devotees, but think I have no clear concept of what exactly this service to devotees means. Kindly help me understand this concept.

Your unworthy servant,
Gopal
Switzerland

Answer: Six Kinds of Loving Exchanges

How to serve devotees is described as follows by Srila Rupa Goswami:

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

"Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one's mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another."
--Nectar of Instruction, Verse 4

Take these instructions of Rupa Goswami very seriously and your life will be sublime.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari