The Highest Ideal

Internal remembrance can occur by the power of kirtana, and only then is solitary service possible. (Vaisnava Ke 19)
Amongst the ordinary devotees the Lord engaged in nama-sankirtana, and with His intimate associates He relished rasa.
The Lord attentively heard the pastimes of Prahlada and Dhruva hundreds of times. (Cb. Antya 10.34)
Instruct everyone you see to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krsna. Vecome a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land. (Cc. Madhya 7.128)
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu further advised the brahmana Kurma, “If you follow this instruction, your materialistic life at home will not obstruct your spiritual advancement. Indeed, if you follow these regulative principles, we will again meet here, or, rather, you will never lose My company.” (Cc. Madhya 7.120)
Every living and non-living entity in this universe has emanated from the Lord Himself and is meant only for His satisfaction. Knowing this it is the most intelligent and beneficial act to use everything here including ourselves as an offering to the Lord’s service and to also encourage others to take up this practice. As per Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s reading of the sastra, intrinsically, above anything else, the duty (paro-dharma) of every soul is devotion to the adhoksaja (Krsna) while anything done for selfish ends (dvitiyabhinivesah) is unnecessary and dangerous (bhayavah). The true dignity of the soul does not lie in earning wealth, prestige, and the goodwill of those who have the same material disposition as ourselves. Only by realizing one’s constitutional position as the servant of the Supreme Lord and acting accordingly, is our true spiritual dignity reinstated.
Sri Sri Radha-Krsna hold the most glorious position in the transcendental world of Goloka-Vrndavana and are eternally engaged in sweet pastimes, untouched by material perverseness. Mahaprabhu, who is non-different than Radha-Krsna, appeared in this world out of His overflowing compassion along with four principle associates and hundreds of other associates just to establish the superexcellent position of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, Their Holy Names, Their pastimes and Their devotees all over the world. From Him the illustrious line of the Rupanugas, or the followers of Sri Rupa Gosvami, has manifested just to uphold this great ideal. Rupanuga-cudamani Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura revitalized this ideal in the deteriorated Vaisnava world and started a new era of Krsna Consciousness. May we mature spiritually holding on to the ideal enshrined in the following verse by Srila Sarasvati Thakura:
The servants of Hari are engaged in lavish affairs, handling material wealth and engaging all manner of things in the Lord’s service. They worship the path of spontaneous devotion with gaurava-bhange (in a mood of awe and reverence) and to show that the raga-patha is above all (above our heads), they remain as servants, being a little distant and below, praying for that of a servant’s duty, not for that of a confidential nature — not to bring that highest divine love down here, but to hold that upon their heads.

The disciples mentality (Art of Sadhana - Ch XV)

The word diksa refers to the process of surrendering to a spiritual master. The genuine spiritual master is one who is most dear to the Supreme Lord, one who is His intimate associate. A person who takes shelter of such a spiritual master is recognized by Krishna as one of His own. The Lord immediately bestows a transcendental body on such a surrendered soul and, in this body, the disciple has the good fortune to serve the divine form of the Lord.
The primary characteristic of a disciple who has received initiation and direction in the practice of worship from his spiritual master is visrambha, an honest desire for faithful and loving service to the spiritual master, the Vaishnavas and the Supreme Lord. The secondary characteristic is that he seeks to destroy all his sinful activities.
The divya-jnana, the transcendental knowledge of sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana, is received by the disciple as part of initiation. The self-revealed scriptures, the Vedas, are the supreme authority (pramana) on spiritual subject matters. The scripture and the nine prameya (teachings) based on scripture are collectively called dasa-mula, the ten basic elements of spiritual knowledge. The nine prameya consist of the seven aspects of relationships (sambandha) -- Krishna Himself, Krishna's energies, Krishna's divine mood (rasa), the soul, its bondage and its liberation, and the inconceivable oneness and difference of the Lord and the individual soul. To these seven are added abhidheya, bhakti, and prayojana, love of God.
Along with all of this knowledge comes an important side effect: the destruction of one's sinful reactions. Thus the direct result of initiation is love for Krishna. Mahaprabhu confirms this in the following statement to His own spiritual master:
If one does not develop love for Krishna nor feels any attachment to the chanting of the Holy Names after being initiated, but remains inclined to sinful activities, falling down from time to time, it is then clear that either knowingly or unknowingly, that person has committed terrible offenses to the Lord, the guru or the Vaishnavas. One should then think: "I have only made a pretense of surrendering myself. I have used my initiation simply as an excuse to engage in sense gratificatory activities."
A lack of interest in the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna is the conditioned soul's chief defect. The basis of all sin is ignorance, whose symptom is the rejection of Krishna. The seed of all sin, i.e., the tendency to sin, is present in the flaw of ignorance. From there, sinful activity is inevitable.
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami compares this deficiency in the conditioned jivas to coming under the influence of a witch's spell.
The devotee then turns to Krishna and prays as follows:
Pariksit Maharaja made the following significant statement about how one can recognize purity in a devotee's character: "The person whose self has been washed clean never abandons Krishna's lotus feet (dhautatma purusah krsna-pada-mulam na muncati--Srimad Bhagavatam 2.8.6)."
Visvanatha further clarifies:
The Lord accepts the offerings of those devotees of purified mind. Other than the association of such pure devotees, the jiva has no other hope of attaining any value of significance in life.
One should not think, however, that all one has to do is to sit and listen to the spiritual master's instructions. One has to act according to those instructions. If a disciple does not take up the devotional practices or sadhana recommended by the guru then how can he expect to achieve spiritual perfection?
In the Chaitanya Charitamrta, the Lord says that, on receiving initiation from the spiritual master, one should worship Krishna and serve the guru. Then one becomes free from the control of maya and attains Krishna's lotus feet. (Chaitanya Charitamrta 2.22.25)
In his commentary to the above-mentioned verse, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes: "It is through a combination of bhajana and service to the spiritual master that one becomes free of maya's net and attains Krishna's lotus feet."
Srila Prabhupada also says,
Our spiritual master instructed us to chant 100,000 Names daily without offense, keeping our objectives clear. If we cannot follow this instruction, how can we expect to become free of all the contamination in our hearts? As stated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the performance of harinama-sankirtana is glorious in seven ways. It cleans the mirror of the heart (ceto-darpana-marjanam); it extinguishes the conflagration of material life (bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam); it distributes the cooling moon rays of auspiciousness (sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam); it is the life of transcendental knowledge, which is like its consort (vidya-vadhu-jivanam), it increases the ocean of divine bliss (anandambudhi-vardhanam); at every step, it gives a taste of the full ambrosia for which we have always been anxious (pratipadam purnamrtasvadanam); and it bathes the entire self in divine ecstasy (sarvatma-snapanam). Mahaprabhu Himself repeatedly stated that there was no worship superior to the worship of the Holy Names. "All will attain perfection through the chanting of the Holy Names. Chant these Names constantly; I give you no other rules." (Chaitanya Bhagavata 2.23.78)

Do we have any hope of attaining the supreme good if we ignore these instructions of the Lord and the spiritual master?
Sri Guru's mercy is everything -- guru-krpa hi kevalam. Therefore one should pray as follows:
 
So, my dear devotees, tread carefully the path of devotion. Always pray for the mercy of Krishna, the guru, and the vaishnavas. Remember that progress in devotion depends on progress in humility--that is the art of sadhana.