BG 18.48

Giriraj Swami: 

[BG 18.48]

saha-jaṁ karma kaunteya

sa-doṣam api na tyajet

sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa

dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ

Every endeavor is covered by some fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore, one should not give up the work born of his nature, O son of Kuntī, even if such work is full of fault.

COMMENT

So we are sitting here in front of the deity of Srila Prabhupada and the devotees. And just appreciating how by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy Krishna consciousness is expanding all over the world. For the last few days I was in Porto in Portugal and I had the same thought there. How could Krishna consciousness spread in some place like Porto without the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. It is actually by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada that Krishna Consciousness is spreading everywhere. And by his books which are also his mercy. We met many people who got introduced to Krishna consciousness or interested in Krishna consciousness by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books-in Portuguese or as they say in Brazilian. So anyway now we are reading Bhagavad-gītā which was spoken by Lord Krishna five thousand years and by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we are able to appreciate how the same instructions that Krishna spoke five thousand years ago to Arjun have meaning and relevance to us today. Otherwise nobody thought Bhagavad-gītā had any relevance, except for a few Hindus or Vaishnavas in India.

But most of the Indians themselves thought that Bhagavad-gītā or Vedic religion were the cause of India’s backwardness. The first time we did hari-nāma in the center of Connaught Centre in New Delhi, we thought the people would be wonder struck or enchanted by the foreign devotees doing hari-nāma. So we would do hari-nāma and then after some time we would stop and speak then we would do more hari-nāma and then we would stop and speak. So we were very surprised when one of the first times we were stopped. Some man started shouting and waving his fist at us and saying that we have had enough of this. This is what has kept India down for so long, we have had enough of this and now you want to come and give us more of it. He was very angry and even the politicians in India they, Srila Prabhupada said they like to pose with Bhagavad-gītā but actually they don’t understand the first line of Bhagavad-gītā. The first line of Bhagavad-gītā or the first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā is that I am not the body.

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhya B.G.2.13

So the first instruction of Bhagavad-gītā is that the living entity is different from the body. So the politicians are very happy to pose with the Bhagavad-gītā but they fully identify with the body. The whole basis of politics for them is the bodily identification. So even in India very few people had any understanding of the relevance of Bhagavad-gītā for us today. So this is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada that people all over the world can read Bhagavad-gītā and understand that Bhagavad-gītā applies to us now and that by following Bhagavad-gītā we can attain perfection.

Now we come to today’s verse:

saha-jaṁ karma kaunteya
sa-doṣam api na tyajet

That even though our duty may be covered with some fault still we should not give up our duty because as long as we are in the material world there will always be some faults. Just like I might be manager in the temple so I might think that well in management there are so many relativities. somebody is happy with me but somebody is not happy with me because that always happens. Somebody likes some decisions somebody else doesn’t like them. So I might think, let me become a pujari. Pujari is very easy but even there are faults in pujari’s service because he can’t chant his rounds during japa period and he has to find some time later in the day to chant. So the material world is so constructed that everywhere there are faults. So if we think that there is some fault in my duty. let me accept another duty then that won’t be very practical. Actually Srila Prabhupada liked the devotees to accept some service or some responsibility and perfect it although we are not perfect but we try to become perfect. And the perfection cannot really be measured materially but the real perfection is how much Krishna is pleased. The Bhāgavatam says; sam sthi hari tosana, the test of our success is how far Krishna is pleased by our service.

So there are so many services which are allotted by Krishna and we should be absorbed in our service and not be too worried about the other person’s service. At one time you know Srila Prabhupada was very pleased with devotees in Mayapur. So he wrote one letter that I am very pleased that you are all so absorbed in your service, each one absorbed in his own service and not unnecessarily bothered about the other person’s service and if we do the service only for the sake of pleasing Krishna then that is the perfection because if you look for faults, you’ll find that they are faults even in the spiritual world. Just like when Krishna got bewildered by Radharani, He started to milk a bull instead of a cow and when Radharani became enchanted by Krishna, she started to churn the butter but there was nothing in the pot. So these are also faults. So we can find faults even in the spiritual world but then what is the difference between the spiritual world and the material world? The difference is that in the spiritual world Krishna is the center and because Krishna is in the center therefore everything is perfect not that there are no faults.

Another example that Srila Prabhupada gave is that when Krishna played His flute, the gopīs became so anxious to meet Krishna that they just started to put their cloth on the top cloth on the bottom part and the bottom cloth on the top part and they would put the makeup in all the wrong places and they look just like small children playing at dressing up. So these are faults, actually they are not faults because Krishna is the center. So as long as we keep Krishna in the center even if there is some fault there won’t be any fault because Krishna will be in the center and anything done sincerely for the sake of Krishna which is authorized by Krishna is perfect. So we should appreciate the service of the other devotees. Well we should appreciate the other devotees in general because they have given up everything for the sake of Krishna. So even if we think there is some fault but if we see that they have sacrificed everything for the sake of Krishna then we won’t see the fault in the same way. We will see the real fact, which is that the work is being done for Krishna and that is the main thing. Because if you actually think about it how many people are serving Krishna? Very few almost everyone is engaged in serving their senses and maybe a few people are trying to get out of the senses out but how many are serving Krishna? Hardly anybody.

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 4.7) Out of thousands of persons only one will seek perfection and out of thousands who are seeking perfection hardly one will know Krishna. So devotees are very rare souls, sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. One who surrendered to Krishna is very rare. So we should appreciate the fact that someone has surrendered to Krishna and is trying to serve the Lord even if there is some fault.

Actually we had one Bengali devotee who joined in Bombay. His name is Haridasa. He is still there. So in 1972 when we first got the Juhu land I came back from the city one day and there was Haridasa. So the devotees said that there is one young man who wants to join and he wanted to speak to me because I was the temple president. So I met him and he walked all the way from the center of Bombay city to Juhu to join and he walked all the way because he didn’t have any money and he didn’t have any money because he just got out of jail because his profession was he worked for some big smuggler and gangster. So he was caught and put in jail so when he was in jail, he saw one copy of Back to Godhead and he saw Srila Prabhupada’s picture. He decided that he wanted to meet him and serve him. So he found the address and came to the temple and okay so anyway Haridasa joined. Then many years later when Haridasa was doing life membership, he came back from the city and he was very upset and he put his beads on Prabhupada’s table and he said, “I quit!” So Srila Prabhupada said, ”What happened?” So he said, “I went out all day and I met so many people but nobody wanted to give anything. Nobody would become a life member and nobody would give any donation, nobody would even take a book. Then after being out all day long I come back to the temple and there was no prasāda left and then to make everything worse one of the foreign devotees insulted me so I quit.

So Srila Prabhupada said that just be a little patient. Very soon the new temple will open and people will stand in queue to become life members and actually it happened. After the new temple opened ISKCON became very well respected and very popular and before we were to increase the life membership fee, people were ringing up and asking us to come and enrol them as members. I think one day Haridasa, he collected twenty-seven life members, so then coming to the point about the foreign devotees Srila Prabhupada said that they are giving service. He said just like sometimes when you go to milk the cow, the cow kicks you but you tolerate the kick because the cow is giving milk. So they are giving service, so even if they give some kick we should tolerate it, for the sake of the service.

So therefore devotees have to be tolerant - titiksva karunika the first qualification of the devotee is that he should be tolerant. Srila Prabhupada himself had to tolerate so many obstacles. In Bombay itself he there were so many impediments placed by opposing elements. So he could have thought, well I have so many temples if the people in Bombay don’t like me I can go somewhere else but no karunika because the sadhu is very merciful. He comes to show mercy to the fallen souls. So even though there are so many impediments but he doesn’t give up, he doesn’t go away. He tolerates and he does his duty so that he can bestow mercy upon the fallen souls - titiksava karunika suhrida sarva dehina and he is the best friend of all of the living entities. Not that he likes one group and he doesn’t like another group but he is the friend of everyone; ajata-satrava he is not the enemy of anyone. Someone may become the enemy of a sadhu, not due to any fault of the sadhu but by the nature of the person. He becomes envious.

So Srila Prabhupada said, well he quoted Canakya Pandit that there are two types of envious creatures; one is the snake and the other is the man. They are envious because they will attack they will bite without provocation. So of the two the snake is less dangerous because the snake can be charmed by some mantras but the envious human being cannot be pacified by any means. So the sadhu has no enemy but someone may become the enemy of the sadhu out of his own nature. Just like in Bombay there were so many envious people who opposed Srila Prabhupada but the sadhu does not become the enemy of his enemy. He remains the well- wisher of even his enemy. He thinks how can I do good even for the envious person and he remains peaceful because he depends on Krishna, even there are enemies, even there are impediments but he remains peaceful because he has faith that Krishna is in control and rakhe kṛṣṇa māre ke māre kṛṣṇa rakhe ke - if Krishna wants to protect someone no one can kill him and if Krishna wants to kill someone no one can protect him. And therefore he is not disturbed even if there is cause for disturbance because he knows that Krishna will take care of him and he doesn’t have any personal desire anyway. He just wants to please the Lord. So personally he has nothing to gain or lose.

So śānta, he remains peaceful and sādhava, he always acts according to the injunctions of the scriptures. Therefore, a sadhu is a devotee of Krishna because the injunction is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 8.66) man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65) the injuction is to surrender to Krishna and become His devotee. So especially in the beginning there will be so many impediments in the discharge of devotional service but what can be done? We have to tolerate and continue with our service in order to show mercy to the fallen souls by spreading Krishna consciousness. So this is the example set by Srila Prabhupada. So we should study of course the books of Srila Prabhupada but also study the life of Srila Prabhupada, how he tolerated so many impediments to spread Krishna consciousness and we should appreciate the service of the other devotees unless it is our service to point out the faults, we shouldn’t be too much involved in pointing out the faults but we can be aware of our own faults and try to improve but even if we find that we have faults which we do, it doesn’t mean that we should give up our duty. We should perform our duty even if there are faults in our service. If there are faults in the execution of the service, we should try to overcome.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: Sometimes it may be that the devotee feels responsibility for the movement for expanding Krishna consciousness so then when he sees some fault maybe he feels that it is necessary to try to do something about it. If that is correct and how should he do it?

Giriraj Swami: Well the question is somebody feel concerned about the movement so if he sees some fault he wants to see that it is corrected so how should he go about it?

Well fortunately by Srila Prabhupada’s arrangement there are many checks and balances in ISKCON. Nobody is independent. Everybody is accountable to somebody. So if we just take the simple structure then the devotees in the temple are accountable to the temple president but the temple president is also not independent. He is accountable to the GBC representative and the GBC representatives are also not independent they are accountable to the GBC body. So everybody is accountable to somebody. So if there is some fault in somebody and if you can’t approach the person directly then you could inform the person’s authority and let the person’s authority deal with the problem. Maharaja, would you like to comment?

Maharaja: So we just read that every work has some defect so would it be a good idea to try to find out that kind of work which has the smallest difficulty or the least difficulty?

Giriraj Swami: Actually what the Bhagavad-gītā says is that we should accept the type of work that is appropriate to the modes in which we are situated. For example, you may conclude that the work of the brahman has the least fault but if you are not in the mode of a brahman if you are in the mode of a kshatriya, you shouldn’t try to imitate the work of brahman. You should do your duty as a kshatriya, if that is your duty and by doing the work for Krishna then all faults disappear. All contaminations disappear. Everything is purified and rectified because of the fact it is being done for the sake of Krishna. So in Krishna consciousness it doesn’t really matter what service you because each person has his own nature. So each devotee should be engaged according to his ability and if you do the service for the sake of Krishna then there is no fault but sometimes there are also emergency situations. So in case of emergency a brahman may do the work of a kshatriya or a vaishya might do the work of a brahman. That is called emergency service, Srila Prabhupada said that right now the whole world is in emergency because nobody is preaching Krishna consciousness. So even people who are not brahman, they may do the job of preaching because of the emergency. So Srila Prabhupada actually tried to engage everyone somehow or other in the preaching mission. It doesn’t really matter what service you do in the preaching mission because it all counts towards preaching and you should do whatever you can do nicely and whatever is needed to be done. sometimes there are cockroaches in the deity kitchen then what to do? then sometimes the pujaris think of killing them. So there is faults everywhere. So any other questions or comments?

Devotee: So about these cockroaches, what will be the correct thing to do? kill them or let them be?

Giriraj Swami: Of course if we keep the kitchen clean then there is less chance of cockroaches. I know one temple where they had cockroaches in the kitchen and they started to have mahā kitchen clean-up every week. They would take out everything out of the kitchen and cleaned up everything then the cockroaches went away. So that would be the most positive approach otherwise you could ask the temple president. So we will end the class here and join the ārati to Sri Sri Radha-Govindachandra.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.