Question: While engaging in devotional service, if a fellow devotee is exploiting the situation and behaving like an opportunist—always striving to be in the limelight and cautious about appearing exemplary to the siksha guru, while sidelining the services of other devotees—how should we respond or react to such a situation? Kindly share your wisdom on this matter. Thank you.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
This is a reply to your letter seeking a recommendation how to respond to a devotee’s behavior who is not respectful to other devotees and in fact, deceitful. How you respond depends very much upon your relationship with that devotee. Regardless of the relationship, please be sure that you don’t make the same mistake of being disrespectful of a Vaisnava. Vaisnava aparadha is very serious business and should be carefully avoided at all costs.
While remaining respectful, consider a mode of service that you can present to this other devotee in question, such that your respect is at the center of your communication. With kindness, you may choose to offer feedback regarding the impact which their disrespect is having upon others.
Alternatively, you can consult a senior devotee who can guide you in how to respond appropriately, or perhaps they can speak to this devotee in a private, in confidential manner.
The main point here is don’t depart from respect. If someone’s behavior is unbecoming, allow that they will become purified by the process of bhakti, provided they continue moving forward with attempting bhakti as best they can.
