"Temporary duties are short lived. The soul's temporary duties are not performed in all situations and all times. For example: a brahmana's brahmana nature, a ksatriya's ksatriya nature, and other like natures also, are manifested because of a particular cause. When the cause ceases to be, these natures vanish. A person may in one birth be a brahmana and in the next birth an outcaste. Therefore the duties of the brahmana caste are temporary. They are not the original duties of the soul. Therefore in reference to temporary duties the phrase 'own duty' is only a figure of speech. That is why in every birth a soul's 'own duty'changes. However, in none of these births does the soul's eternal duty ( Sanatana Dharma ) ever change. This eternal duty is the soul's true 'own duty'. Temporary duties are all short lived."If one asks, 'What are the duties of the Vaisnavas?' then I answer: The Vaisnavas' duties are the eternal duties of the soul. When he is liberated from the world of matter, the Vaisnava soul attains his pure spiritual body, and with that body he engages in devotional activities that express his spiritual love for Lord Krsna. When he resides in thematerial world, a person who is intelligent respectfully accepts all that advances his spiritual life and rejects all that hinders it. He does not blindly follow the orders and prohibitions of the scriptures. When the scriptures encourage devotion to Lord Hari, then such a person happily accepts those teachings. When the scriptures' teachings do not encourage devotion, he does not dishonour those teachings. In the same way a Vaisnava also honours or rejects the prohibitions taught in the scriptures.
A Vaisnava is the best person in the world. A Vaisnava is the friend of everyone in the world. A Vaisnava is the auspiciousness of the world.
In this way I have humbly said all I wish to say to this assembly of Vaisnavas.
May the Vaisnavas wash away all my faults and mistakes-Vaisnava Das "
( This is an excerpt from a discourse, delivered by Vaisnava das to an assembly of scholars and devotees, read in it's entirety in a book, titled Jaiva-dharma presented, by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur . )
