So it’s not that a devotee is alone with Krishna, but rather the devotee becomes very close and intimate with the vaisnavas, much more so than generally is the case in the material relationships that exists in this world, where everyone has his privacy, where everyone has his fence, where everyone has his privacy circles, his limits, his borders and ‘Sorry, I don’t know you, so you cannot talk to me’ kind of mood. Book distributors – they ignore that; they step right through these privacy lines. The people are shocked, “This can’t be happening! This is not possible!”  It shocks them. Among the vaisnavas we see that relationships are meant to be of a different nature; they are meant to be close and intimate, but may not be so in our present spiritual Movement because we are not prema bhaktas. But if we could be, if we would be devotees on the level of prema, then really such open, positive, non-envious exchange could be there.

Now in our present state we are associating in the material world and we are all at different levels of advancement. Srila Prabhupada sometimes said that our movement ISKCON is like a hospital and actually all are patients – some are in a better condition than the others and they are helping the others, but somehow or other it is a hospital full of patients where patients help patients, because devotees at different levels of advancement may help. Of course nitya-siddha devotees are of a different nature, or sadhana-siddha. Those who are siddha-bhakta devotees, who are fully at the platform of perfection, alright, they may not be considered as patients but otherwise patients are helping patients and therefore we can not expect our relationships to be completely fully developed. So we should not be disappointed when the relationships amongst vaisnavas are not one of real complete love and trust. When we see in our Movement not yet that full love and trust is realized, then we should not think it is just because we have socially failed. Rather it is that simply the spiritual world has not fully manifested amongst us.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 December 2010, Cape Town, South Africa, Lecture at house program)

The family of vaisnavas is somehow or other our support. Prabhupada made this movement a very personal one. In the beginning, we overlook how important relationships are because we are not used to it. In the material world, when a relationship does not work, you just cut it off and try another one… then another one and another one.

Now I’m not talking just about friendships. So many friends came and went in our lives in the material world but spiritual relationships are very different. Spiritual friendships are different because devotees are very rare. Therefore, devotees are precious and the relationship with the devotee is precious and once broken it is difficult to repair; not like a broken pot that can be glued back together.

Therefore with devotees we cannot just afford the mentality that if it does not work, get rid of this one and get another one! Because the day will come when we will need all the devotees. The day will come when we will very much depend on devotees because the vaisnavas are sustaining us in our spiritual life and without them it becomes so difficult. The day will come when all artificial behavior in our relationships will have to go because that cannot sustain us and time will test us. As they say, “It all comes out in the wash!” It means that sooner or later, it has to get real.

In the beginning, maybe one can have a Shakespearean performance of Krsna consciousness but at one point we need genuine relationships and genuine friendships. This is very important therefore we must be very careful to make sure we avoid unpleasant exchanges between devotees even for the sake of service. Sometimes, it may be necessary that a devotee is not doing it proper and you have to straighten him out.

We sometimes have to chastise but it is an unfortunate thing to do because in the course of it we may break a relationship. That is just one thought that comes to my mind: friendship between vaisnavas. Friendship is not just by declaration, not just Facebook friends or face-value friends, friendship means more.