Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The first condition is that anyone who comes to Krishna consciousness as a bona fide initiated member, he gives up all these abominable habits: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication. They have given up even smoking cigarettes and drinking tea and coffee. After being qualified, they are accepted as vaisnavas and properly initiated. So they cannot be neglected as not being brahmins. According to sastra, they are qualified. Perhaps due to some past habits they may commit some mistake unconsciously. Consciously, no vaisnava commits mistakes, but maybe due to habit. That is also protected by Krishna. api cet su-duracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak, sadhur eva sa mantavyah [Bg. 9.30]. Even there are some discrepancies, if the single qualification is there that he's sticking to Krishna consciousness rigidly, then he is a sadhu — sadhur eva sa mantavyah. So according to the explanation given by Rupa Goswami, as supported by Lord Krishna himself, as supported by Shukadev Goswami, as supported by Sanatan Goswami, as ordered by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, these European and American devotees are regularly initiated vaisnavas. They should not be neglected. That will be vaisnavaaparadha, offense unto the vaisnavas. Out of all kinds of offenses, vaisnava-aparadha is the most dangerous. Vaisnava-aparadha is not excused by Vishnu. Because Durvasa Muni offended Ambarish Maharaja, he was not excused even by Vishnu. He had to fall down at the feet of Maharaja Ambarish. So vaisnava-aparadha is the greatest offense. Even a great sage like Durvasa was not excused. Durvasa was so powerful that by his yogic power he could personally go to all planets — brahma-loka, siva-loka, and visnu-loka. He saw Lord Vishnu face to face and requested him for protection from the sudarçana-cakra. Vishnu refused, "I cannot give you protection because you are an offender to a vaisnava. Only Ambarish Maharaja can give you protection." He was such an exalted yogi that he could personally see Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, and Lord Vishnu, but still he was not excused on account of his offense to a vaisnava. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has warned very severely: tara madhye vaisnava-aparadha hati mata — vaisnava-aparadha is the greatest offense. We should be very careful. According to our Vedic civilization, avaisnava, a saintly person, was never under the government laws. Why only government laws? Even Yamaraja warned his servants not to approach vaisnavas. The vaisnava's position is so great.
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