Test means

Expressions researched:
"test means"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

If you follow the devotional process, then anartha will be finished very soon. That is the test. Test means, bhakti pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt, if you are actually advancing in bhakti, devotional service, then automatically you don't like these nonsense practices. No illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication, automatically.

Lecture on SB 7.9.7 -- Mayapur, February 14, 1976:

With our, this institution, the center is meant for giving a chance to the common people to get association of devotee. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). Sādhu means those who are well-behaved in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not upstarts. They are called sādhu. So, those who are living in this temple, they must be strictly very well behaved, so that whoever may come out of śraddhā, if he sits down for some time and sees your behavior, then he'll be influenced. And if you become third-class, then how sādhu-saṅgaḥ will be effective? No. You must strictly follow the regulative principles as given to you by your spiritual master, śāstra. You must follow. Then people will come in contact with you, they will be benefited. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15), and if he regularly makes sādhu-saṅgaḥ, then the effect will be he will try to become a sādhu. That is initiation. Initiation means the beginning of becoming a sādhu, not that after initiation immediately he becomes a sādhu. If he follows, just like we instruct that you chant at least sixteen rounds, you have no illicit sex, you cannot take any meat, fish, eggs, or you cannot have any intoxication up to drinking tea and smoking, and we say no gambling. This is the process of becoming a sādhu. So ādau śraddhā. This is called bhajana-kriyā.

Then anartha-nivṛttiḥ. Anartha, these are anartha. There is no need of smoking. It is useless, but we have practiced it. Therefore they are anartha. But if you follow the devotional process, then anartha will be finished very soon. That is the test. Test means, bhakti pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt, if you are actually advancing in bhakti, devotional service, then automatically you don't like these nonsense practices. No illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication, automatically. That is the test how far you are. Anartha-nivṛtti syāt, these are anartha. Then if he is niṣṭhā, firm faith, then ruci, taste then asakti, attraction then bhava, then prema. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he is on the stage of prema, prema-gadgadayā vācā tan-nyasta-hṛdayekṣaṇaḥ. when you attain the stage of prema, then your core of heart is cleansed for welcoming, He is there, for seeing.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Simply by saying that "I am in commune with God." No. There is test. The test means if he is always in touch with God, he'll become, in his characteristics, godly.

Room Conversation with Reverend Gordon Powell, Head of Scots Church -- June 28, 1974, Melbourne:

Satsvarūpa: To what do you attribute this serenity that your devotees have, their calmness.

Prabhupāda: Communist?

Satsvarūpa: The devotees seem to be calm, serene. Where does that come from?

Prabhupāda: From Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yes.

Reverend Powell: From what?

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa consciousness, when one...

Reverend Powell: Ah, the consciousness, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā. These are the proofs. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). If one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he becomes qualified with all godly attributes. That I have explained, that if you be in touch with God, then you become godly. That is the test. Simply by saying that "I am in commune with God." No. There is test. The test means if he is always in touch with God, he'll become, in his characteristics, godly. So they... One of the qualifications is serenity. Is one of the qualifications. There are twenty-five qualifications of a devotee.