Do non-devotees have no good qualities?
So do non devotees have no good qualities and do devotees automatically have all good qualities as the verse from the Bhagavatam seems to say actually I gave a full Bhagavatam class on this topic in Radha Rasbiha Temple once so we have to look at the context of this verse the context of this verse is the temporariness of everything material and the eternality of the spiritual. This is a whole sequence of verses going on and various paths so the Bhagavatam in this context is saying that path of jnana is ultimately not of much use, the path of yoga is not of much use the path of karma is not of much use the path of bhakti alone will lead to eternal being so in that context the Bhagavatam is saying that what is the value of good qualities and the path of jnana is given in scripture itself the path of yoga other paths are also given in scripture and they do have value, they do lead to elevation but from the ultimate point of view they cannot satisfy the heart's longing for love that cannot happen but contextually they do make a difference so the thrust of the Bhagavatam verse is that ultimately people may have good qualities but if they don't have devotion to Krishna they are not going to attain lasting happiness they are not going to get lasting liberation from material existence and they are not going to achieve life's perfection so it is from the ultimate perspective that this discussion is talking about we see in the Bhagavad Gita itself when Krishna talks about a brahmana he talks about the qualities of a brahmana in 18.42 and he says he has given a list of qualities this is the qualities of a brahmana and he does not mention bhakti as a quality of a brahmana he talks about several lists he talks about qualities of in the 16th chapter and he does not mention bhakti as one of the qualities over there 16.123 he doesn't talk about bhakti so now he is talking about and there are examples of brahmanas who have other good qualities but who do not have bhakti in the Bhagavatam they are reproached but it is possible that there can be people who may be intellectual there can be people who may be disciplined there can be people who as you say are humble who may not be devotees so we cannot use this verse to claim that nobody who is not a devotee has any good qualities where qualities are present we have to give them due credit they are present and we appreciate the presence of those qualities the Bhagavatam also talks about talks about people who have good qualities for example the Bhagavatam says Vena he was charitable but he was not a devotee and that's why he is not really glorified in the scriptures the way Yudhishthira is Yudhishthira was charitable but he was also a devotee but the point is the Bhagavatam recognizes that Vena was charitable so people can have qualities the point of this verse is that those qualities are of no ultimate use and in contrast as far as devotees are concerned sometimes devotees may be proud they may be lacking in humility so we have to understand that bhakti is a curative process it is a curative process that can free us from all anarthas but that does not mean that a bhakta right now is free from all anarthas the point is because they are practicing bhakti they will eventually develop all good qualities but it is not that right now they have all good qualities the example that Bhaktasamudrasindhu gives is like a raw mango and a ripe mango the raw mango has the potentiality to become ripe and in due course of time it will become ripe but I cannot wish away the reality and call the raw mango as the ripe mango the two are different so it is very much possible and it is actually real that many times devotees have have less than desirable qualities and we cannot deny that at the same time we should not obsess over them and neglect the fact that they are devotees Vishwanath Chakradhakar says that if you find that some devotees have qualities they are chanting Hare Krishna but they are not having proper behavior then you should respect them from a distance if somebody's negative qualities agitate us you can just keep a distance from them but it is not that devotion is a whitewash immediately ultimately devotion will wash off all our thoughts but right now as bhaktas we have to recognize that this is a curative process which will take time and in the intermediate we have to function in a way in which we are productive and whatever we are part of is productive now if somebody is an irritable person if we put them in a leadership position it is going to be a big problem for everyone for them and for others we cannot say that because they are devotees people right now may have certain qualities may not have certain qualities and we need to engage everyone according to the way they have qualities and presently we need to deal with people based on what kind of qualities we can gel with so there is another principle that in the Ashaastrikya Sangha Guru Prabhupada Swami says that we should associate with like-minded devotees that means if certain devotees have certain qualities that just disturb us too much then we will not associate with them we can associate with those who are like-minded those who we can relate with and in that association we will blossom so does it answer your question? thank you yes sir.