¹ Prabhupāda has abundantly underscored the absolute necessity of being sincere devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in order to progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in his books, lectures, letters and conversations with his disciples. Therefore it is evident that insincerity has no place in progressive spiritual life. According to the online Cambridge English Dictionary, sincere means “not pretending or lying; honest.” In other words, speaking untruth is intrinsically incompatible with devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His representatives or His devotees, just as water is intrinsically incompatible with fire. There is no question of a “sincere Vaiṣṇava” speaking untruth in the service of the Supreme Lord or His pure devotees, just as there is no question of a celibate sex-monger, a vegetarian meat-eater or a teetotaller drunkard. Lord Rāma’s firm demonstration of honesty is thus especially relevant to practicing Vaiṣṇavas who desire to attain pure love of Godhead. Unless such a basic issue is resolved in one’s own attempts to practice and propagate devotional service to the Lord, there is no question of tangibly progressing in bhakti-yoga. Lack of duplicity and diplomacy in spiritual life has also been greatly stressed by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Of course, honesty should also be within the boundaries of Vedic scriptural teachings and interested readers can see the note to text 1.1.22 to better understand this principle.