The diksa-guru is always the supreme court. Loyalty always goes to the diksa-guru.

Adapted from a lecture on Sadhusangastakam given by His Holiness Romapada Swami in Seattle during November 2011.

You get spiritual qualities by associating with one who has spiritual qualities. If you want to get warm, stand near a fire. If you want to get spiritual qualities, stand close to, or stay in close affectionate association with one who has spiritual qualities. You'll find that spiritual qualities will start to manifest, which means unwanted qualities will be more readily discarded than you can imagine….certainly not just by trying to refraining from the don'ts. That's not a spiritual quality. That's a religious principle, but it's not being situated from the heart and being moved from the spirit of connection with Krsna dispelling darkness..

-- adapted from Part 4 of the Festival of the Holy Name, presented by Srila Romapada Swami on June 30, 2007 in Chicago

When Krishna becomes the object of our affection, then all of the inconsistencies, the limitations, the inebrieties, and all such things are gone and the heart’s desire is fulfilled in an inconceivable way. Krishna can make that happen, even if we have no attraction, if we approach Him in this humble petitioning mood, “Please accept me. I have no qualification. Great devotees that have qualification can’t get access. I am shameless and I am asking anyway.” In Nectar of Devotion, this is described as hope against hope. “Still I have the hope, because You are very merciful and You are powerful. So, please accept me in Your service.” Then there is some taste, and that taste is so attractive that material attraction just becomes insignificant.

Suffering comes of its own accord, just as happiness comes of its own accord. We are not going to help someone by adjusting the shadow. We are going to help someone by addressing the need of the soul. By the grace of Krishna, we may raise the person to spiritual consciousness if we ourselves are in spiritual consciousness, and if we ourselves are following the rules and regulations of spiritual practices. If, on the other hand, we give up our own spiritual activities and simply become concerned with the bodily conceptions of others, then, Prabhupada writes, we will fall into a dangerous position. So compassion needs to be properly placed.

Now that we have done this exercise of self-honesty -- the appraisal of 'where I am' in the spectrum of devotional service -- the next thing is how do deal with that, with spiritual conception. That's where this seeming contradiction or paradox comes: There is this necessity of acceptance of the reality of our current position and, at the same time, a seeming paradox of self-improvement, wherein we want to go beyond our shortcoming or limitation to the realm of pure devotional service...

Truthfulness is the last leg of religiosity in Kali-yuga. So be truthful. It's a value that people still hold. That's kind of a worldly honesty. For a devotee, self-honesty is to be honest with oneself that, "This is where I am at", rather than projecting some pretense because we want to be a good devotee. We may be struggling inside, but we project as a good devotee. Srila Rupa Gosvami has given us a clear picture of the standards of devotional service. So we can contemplate, "Where am I in that spectrum?" And, the process of devotional service will help us with that.

Q) What is softness of heart and how to measure it?

A) Nice question. One way to look at soft-heartedness is to look at what it isn’t – hard-heartedness. Hard-heartedness means nothing goes inside. Take the example of Daksha. There are two Dakshas. The Daksha who appeared during Caksusa Manu’s time saw Lord Vishnu. Vishnu was pleased with him because Daksha wanted to simply serve Him. But the Lord knew he had material desires, so his condition was not just simply wanting to serve the Lord; it was mixed. But the Lord came because he pleased the Lord. The Lord did not take away the material desires of Daksha, because Daksha did not want to let go of his material desires. The Lord gave him the means to fulfill his material desires. That is hard-heartedness. It does not come in.

"Whatever your service, be satisfied somehow or the other. When Krsna sees that disposition, He is very pleased."

"Each devotee needs to understand that there is an intrinsic worth to that soul who places themselves at the feet of Krsna."

"Krsna just wants to see that we are trying to please Him. We can't purchase Krsna with our service."

"Quantification of our service is not a measure of success. To Krsna the only thing that matters is that someone is trying to come to Him."

"By what measure is Krsna pleased? By the love and devotion with which our services are offered. By adhering to this one principle, one is on the path back to Godhead."

"Emotions about how we feel about ourselves, if not on a spiritual platform, will never bring satisfaction to us." .

Simultaneously upon seeing the resistance position come, take the humblest position and cry out to Krsna. Call upon the desire to not stay in that position but to get into the spiritual position..

-- from an informal darshan with Srila Romapada Swami on February 11, 1987 in New York, on the topic of Complacency and Sincere Desire

Srila Prabhupada said on more than one occasion, "One can understand who is my disciple, because he is a perfect gentleman". Well, that's a nice standard to be known by, isn't it? We have a long way to go, but that is the standard, not only in behavior. A disciple is meek and obedient. Meek does not mean trembling and cowering. Meek is not confrontational and challenging, but obedient. When Narada received instructions from Brahma, he was very obedient to those instructions. Like the verse from Bhagavad-gita 4.34 - tad vidhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya.