Verse 6:

kara kena tabe tahara gaurava ?
vaisnavera pache, pratisthasa ache,
ta'te kabhu nahe "anitya-vaibhava"

harijana dvese-hate for the devotees of the Lord; pratisthasa-desire for material fame emposithon; klesa-sufering; kara-do; kena-why; tabe-then; tahara-its; gaurava- harijana-dvesa, pratisthasa-klesa,
feel pride; vaisnavera pache-following behind the Vaisnava; pratisthasa-desire for spiritual position; ache-there is; tate-in that; kabhu nahe-never; anitya-impermanent; vaibhava-wealth.

My dear mind, what kind of Vaisnava are you? In the name of solitary worship you are simply engaged in criticizing and committing offenses against the Vaisnavas. You have become envious towards the pure devotees of Lord Krsna. Instead of tasting the nectar of being a real Vaisnava you are simply suffering due to your desire to gain flickering material prestige and position. Then, in spite of your fallen condition, why do you remain so proud of your solitary worship?

Now you should try to be a real Vaisnava. To be a pure devotee of Krsna is actually the most glorious position anyone can achieve! If you really desire to achieve perfection, then give up this practice of solitary worship and in the association of devotees practice pure unmotivated devotional service. In the sincere practice of pure devotional service there is no influence of Maya.

The mind must be controlled and made to act as a friend, helping one to advance on the path of Krsna realization. When the uncontrolled mind becomes infatuated with the desire for attaining egotistic prominence, even within the society of devotees, it immediately becomes dissatisfied:

krsna-bhakta--niskama, ataeva "santa"
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami--sakali "asanta"

"Because a devotee of Lord Krsna is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jnanis desire liberation, and yogis desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful." (Cc. Madhya 19.149)

If a devotee, even after renouncing desire for gross sense gratification and fruitive activity, becomes careless and is swayed by desire for superficial importance and material position, he immediately feels dissatisfaction. Although this dissatisfaction alone is certainly the cause of untold suffering, should he, under pressure from his materialistic desires, grow envious of exalted souls, his situation becomes especially dangerous. In this way the uncontrolled mind leads him from material suffering to actively offending the Vaisnavas, and he proceeds along the royal road to destruction.

tri-vidham narakasyedam
dvaram nasanam atmanah
kamah krodhas tatha lobhas
tasmad etat trayam tyajet

"There are three gates leading to this hell-- lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul." (Bg. 16.21)

abhisandhaya yo himsam
dambham matsaryam eva va
samrambhi bhinna-drg bhavam
mayi kuryat sa tamasah

"Devotional service executed by a person who is envious, proud, violent and angry, and who is a separatist, is considered to be in the mode of darkness." (Bhag. 3.29.8)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore warned that offending a Vaisnava is the gravest error one can commit..

If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaisnava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up. (Cc. Madhya 19.156)

When a devotee living in a Vaisnava society becomes infatuated with material desires, Krsna mercifully subjects him to circumstances and lessons in order to instruct and protect him. To properly receive such instructions from senior Vaisnavas and to understand such situations are due to the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A devotee should always chant Hare Krsna in a humble state of mind, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu has enjoined:

trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One should chant the Holy Name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than a straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly." (Siksastaka 3)

But rather than showing humility and accepting the truth of the situation, the mind, infatuated with the desire to achieve importance, imagines no wrong in its envious attitude towards the real devotees of the Lord and reacts with false pride when shown that its path is mistaken. This pride is the symptom of falldown from spiritual life. Therefore, a devotee should be very careful to train his mind in avoiding this dangerous path and learn instead to be humble and sincere.

This does not mean, however, that one must be desireless. Desires are not absent in devotional service, but they are purified in the fire of transcendental knowledge. In other words, one should desire to be a servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna. The pure desire to attain this most exalted position contains within it multifarious activities for one's upliftment. To achieve the mercy of Lord Krsna one must be fixed in a constant endeavor to execute the various activities of devotional service. That desire and the subsequent activities involved in achieving the goal of pure devotional service do not have even the slightest tinge of material contamination. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is eternal; He is possessed of unlimited transcendental qualities and is surrounded by transcendental associates and paraphernalia. The devotional service of the Lord, or even the desire to achieve the position of devotional service following in the footsteps of authorized devotees, is purely situated on the transcendental platform. The expert transcendentalist, by fixing his mind on that transcendental platform through proper engagement of the mind in the devotional service of the Lord, is surely successful in this life in his practice of Krsna Consciousness.

Since devotional service is the highest perfection the intelligence can pacify the mind from its natural proclivity of desiring insignificant material objects, including material fame and position. The Caitanya Caritamrta instructs a devotees how to fix his mind in the absolute truth.

eita parama-phala 'parama-purusartha'
yanra age trna-tulya cari purusartha

"To taste the fruit of devotional service at Goloka Vrndavana is the highest perfection of life, and in the presence of such perfection, the four material perfections--religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation--are very insignificant achievements." (Cc. Madhya 19.164)