SB 3.32.41

Purport continued:

Bhaktaya. Bhaktaya means in the beginning, of course nobody can be elevated to the highest stage of devotional service, but here bhaktaya means one who is not hesitating to accept the reformatory processes for becoming a bhakta. Just like in order to become a devotee of the Lord, one has to accept the spiritual master and to inquire from him about the progress of devotional service, and serve the devotee, to chant the holy name under certain counting method, to worship the Deity and to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita from the realized persons. There are similarly about sixty-four items for making progress in devotional service. So at least out of those sixty-four items, five items-namely, chanting the holy name of the Lord, hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam, and offering worship to the Deity, and to become respectful to the devotees, and to live in a place where devotional service is not disturbed-these five things at least must be accepted. And one who has accepted, he is called a devotee.

Such devotee must be prepared to offer the necessary respect and honor to the spiritual master. He should not become unnecessarily envious to his godbrothers. Rather, if some godbrother is more enlightened and advanced in Krsna consciousness, one should accept such godbrother as almost equal to the spiritual master or should be happy to see...

[break]

...in Krsna consciousness. For the general public, a devotee should always be very kind in the matter of instructing Krsna consciousness because that is the only solution for getting out of the clutches of maya. That is really humanitarian work, or to show mercy to other people who need them very badly. The word susrūsabhirataya (s-u-s-r-u-s-a-b-h-i-r-a-t-a-y-a), susrūsabhirataya, that means a person who is faithfully engaged in serving the spiritual master, to give him personal service and all kinds of comforts to the spiritual master, he is also a bona fide candidate for taking this instruction. [SB 3.32.42]