Is it necessary to be highly successful in worldly life in order to preach spiritual knowledge?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on December 06, 2020, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[Śrī Nithin asked: A person who is very successful in wordly life told me to preach spiritual knowledge to him, only after I become as successful as he is. How should I react in that situation?]

Swāmi replied: It would be justified if the person had said that you should preach spiritual knowledge to him provided you become as much of an expert in spiritual knowledge as he is. Success in worldly life is not a qualification to preach spiritual knowledge! For the post of a lecturer in Sanskrit, nobody advertises that the required qualification is an M.A. in English! If anyone advertises like that, he will be treated to be a mad person! Of course, there is some meaning in his statement. A preacher of spiritual knowledge should preach that knowledge after securing his or her livelihood and attaining self-sufficiency in the basic worldly requirements. Otherwise, especially in this Kali Age, when people misunderstand every good person to be a fraud, they might not accept your spiritual preaching. They might suspect that you are preaching that knowledge only to earn money or at least to get free food from them. If you are self-sufficient in your worldly life, there will be no such a misunderstanding. In this Kali Age, every person is a doubting Thomas!

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