SB 4.30.39–40 – For Krishna’s Satisfaction Only

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Four, Chapter Thirty—“The Activities of the Pracetās”

TEXT 39-40

yan naḥ svadhītaṁ guravaḥ prasāditā
viprāś ca vṛddhāś ca sad-ānuvṛttyā
āryā natāḥ suhṛdo bhrātaraś ca
sarvāṇi bhūtāny anasūyayaiva

yan naḥ sutaptaṁ tapa etad īśa
nirandhasāṁ kālam adabhram apsu
sarvaṁ tad etat puruṣasya bhūmno
vṛṇīmahe te paritoṣaṇāya

TRANSLATION

Dear Lord, we have studied the Vedas, accepted a spiritual master and offered respect to brāhmaṇas, advanced devotees and aged personalities who are spiritually very advanced. We have offered our respects to them, and we have not been envious of any brother, friends, or anyone else. We have also undergone severe austerities within the water and have not taken food for a long time. All these spiritual assets of ours are simply offered for Your satisfaction. We pray for this benediction only, and nothing more.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada 

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam: the real perfection of life is pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: in understanding the Vedas, one has to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who has actually understood Him surrenders unto Him after many, many births. We find all these qualifications in the Pracetās.

COMMENT

When the Lord appeared before the Pracetas, the Pracetas thought, What benediction do we want from the Lord? And they wanted only one benediction: the satisfaction of the Lord. In so many verses, now the Pracetas are elaborating on the fact that they desire only the satisfaction of Hari. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also states that the success of one’s activities in Varna and ashram are tested whether by such activities the Lord has been satisfied. If the Lord is satisfied, our activities have been successful, and if the Lord is not satisfied, our activities are for naught. So, the life of the devotee consists simply of desiring to please the Lord and working to please the Lord. If the Lord is actually satisfied, then the devotee is also satisfied. So, the Pracetas studied various books of knowledge, but what is the purpose of all Vedic knowledge? To understand that Krishna is the Supreme Lord and to surrender unto Him, which the Pracetas did.

Sri Sri Radha-Damodara ki jaya!
Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

The Pracetas were so qualified in so many ways.

PURPORT (continued)

They underwent severe austerities and penances within the water, and they did not take any food for a very long time. They practiced these austerities not for material benediction but for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. One may engage in any business — material or spiritual — but the purpose should be the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

So, in the Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad-Gītā, also, Lord Krishna says yat karosi, that whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever austerities you perform, whatever you give in charity, should be done as an offering to the Lord, to Krishna. There are persons who perform very severe austerities but not for the satisfaction of the Lord, rather for sense gratification, and they are called demons. Hiraṇyakaśipu performed very severe austerities, more than anyone in the history of the universe, but why did he perform his austerities? For sense gratification, so that he could become immortal and gratify his senses without any impediment. So, he is considered a demon. So, both demons and devotees perform austerities, but the purpose of the austerities of the demons is sense gratification, and the purpose of the austerities of the devotees is Krishna’s satisfaction. Lord Rishabh Dev gives the same instruction in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tapo divyam, that we should perform austerity for the sake of realizing the Supreme Lord, who is the goal of all activities.

PURPORT (continued)

This verse presents a perfect picture of Vedic civilization. People training to become devotees should be respectful not only to the Supreme Personality of Godhead but also to those who are elderly in knowledge, who are Āryans and actual devotees of the Lord.

COMMENT

So, the Pracetas were respectful to their spiritual masters, to elderly persons advanced in spiritual knowledge, to Aryans who know the value of life and work towards the perfection of life. One should not only respect the Supreme Personality of Godhead but one should respect others related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, Lord Shiva instructs Parvati—ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param, of all types of worship, the worship of Vishnu is the highest, tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarcanam but there is one type of worship which is even higher than the worship of Vishnu, and that is the worship of things related to Vishnu. Like these devotees, or tulsi tulsi is tadia, she is related to Vishnu. So even higher than the worship of Vishnu directly is the worship of things related to Vishnu.

And therefore, the original Vishnu, Krishna, tells Arjuna that one who claims to be My devotee is not My devotee, but one who is the devotee of My devotee, He is actually My devotee. There are people who want to serve the Lord directly, and they even say that they are ready to worship Krishna, but they are not ready to worship any human being, and they cannot appreciate the benefit derived from the worship of Krishna’s pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. They cannot understand why we have guru-puja or put so much emphasis on guru-puja, cannot understand the value of serving the devotee. But Krishna is more pleased when we serve His devotee, like Srila Prabhupada, and when we try to serve Him directly. And because the goal of the devotee is to satisfy Krishna, and because the devotee knows that Krishna’s more satisfied when the devotee is satisfied, so they try to satisfy the devotees. Yasya prasadat bhagavata prasāda That when the devotee is pleased, Krishna is pleased, yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ‘pi and when the devotee is displeased, one has no position in devotional service at all until he comes back to the shelter of the lotus feet of the devotee, Srila Prabhupada.

PURPORT (continued)

An Āryan is one who does not boast but is an actual devotee of the Lord. 

COMMENT

Some people boast that I am an Aryan by birth, but one is not an Aryan by birth. Aryan means one who knows the progressive values of life and who works for them.

PURPORT (continued)

Āryan means “advanced.” Formerly, those who claimed to be Āryans had to be devotees of the Lord. For instance, in Bhagavad-gītā (2.2) Kṛṣṇa chastised Arjuna by saying that he was speaking like a non-Āryan:

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ
viṣame samupasthitam
anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam
akīrti-karam Arjuna

“The Supreme Person [Bhagavān] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.” Arjuna, the kṣatriya, was refusing to fight despite being directly ordered by the Supreme Lord. He was thus chastised by the Lord as belonging to a non-Āryan family. Anyone who is advanced in the devotional service of the Lord certainly knows his duty. It does not matter whether his duty is violent or nonviolent. If it is sanctioned and ordered by the Supreme Lord, it must be performed. An Āryan performs his duty. It is not that the Āryans are unnecessarily inimical to living entities. The Āryans never maintain slaughterhouses, and they are never enemies of poor animals.

COMMENT

So, Lord Krishna instructed Arjuna to fight, not only to fight but to kill. And Arjuna’s duty was to satisfy the Supreme Lord, to follow the order of the Supreme Lord. And when he became overwhelmed by family affection, by lamentation, Lord Krishna told him kuta where have these things come from. Krishna was surprised. He did not expect that Arjuna would become overwhelmed in the bodily concept of life. So, he said, “Kutas,” where from tvā kaśmalam idaṁ have these impurities come from? To identify with the body, to think that I am this body and everything related to this body is mine, is impure kaśmalam. It is dirty. ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam chanting Hare Krishna removes the dirty things from the heart. So, identifying with the body and things related to the body is dirty. We have to remove such impurities from the heart by hearing and chanting the holy name and glories of the Supreme Lord. anārya-juṣṭam, your duty is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. Your duty as a kshatriya is to fight, and your duty as a man is to please the Supreme Lord. So, you are hesitating to perform your duty, and Aryans perform their duties. So, you are acting like a non-Aryan. Not like an Aryan. How has this happened?

If one performs his duty to Krishna, he goes back home, back to Godhead. But if one refuses to perform his duty, asvargyam, what to speak of going back to Godhead, he cannot even go to the heavenly planet. And akīrti-karam, and what to speak of going to the heavenly planet, he cannot even be happy in the material world, on the earth. Because even on the earth, people will defame him. People will defame him. He has not done his duty in varnashrama-dharma. He has not done his duty to satisfy Krishna. So, he will suffer infamy. And as Lord Krishna says elsewhere in Bhagavad-gītā, for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death. So, one cannot attain any happiness if he does not do his duties to Krishna. And how do we know what our duty is to Krishna? From shastra. Sadhu, shastra, Guru-Vani especially from shastra. Shastra is the central point, and one who does not have faith in the shastra, one who does not do his duty according to shastra, Na sukhaṁ he cannot be happy. He cannot attain perfection na sa siddhim, na parāṁ gatim and he cannot achieve the supreme perfection. He cannot get any good results. So, we should be aware of these facts and act accordingly. Our duty is to obey the order of the superior. If the superior gives some order, we must obey it.

One sannyasi in ISKCON told me that in his ashram, he tells the brahmacharis that the first time you refuse to do the service that is asked of you by the superior, that is the last day you will stay in the temple. But now, due to the influence of Kali, nobody cares for any authority. Everybody wants to do what he wants to do, and therefore, everyone is disturbed. They cannot be happy. It does not matter whether his duty is violent or non-violent. In other words, it doesn’t matter what our duty is, if we receive the order from the superior, we should do it without hesitation.

Now, we should not misunderstand that because Krishna was instructing Arjuna to kill, that Aryans are killers or murderers. No, they are not envious of any living entity, suhridam sarva-bhutanam. They are the best friends of every living entity. But if they are ordered by the Lord, they can even kill. But if they kill under instructions from the Lord, then the living entity who is so killed will not suffer. Rather, the living entity will benefit. And all the people on the battlefield of Kurukshetra who were killed under the order of the Lord by Arjuna, in the presence of Lord Krishna, benefited.

PURPORT (continued)

The Āryans never maintain slaughterhouses, and they are never enemies of poor animals. The Pracetās underwent severe austerities for many, many years, even within the water. Accepting austerities and penances is the avowed business of those interested in advanced civilization.

COMMENT

But the austerity should be done for the satisfaction of Krishna, not for the satisfaction of my senses.

PURPORT (continued)

The word nirandhasām means “without food.” Eating voraciously and unnecessarily is not the business of an Āryan. Rather, the eating process should be restricted as far as possible. When Āryans eat, they eat only prescribed eatables. Regarding this, the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.26):

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it.” Thus there are restrictions for the advanced Āryans. Although the Lord Himself can eat anything and everything, He restricts Himself to vegetables, fruits, milk, and so on. 

COMMENT

So, one must control the tongue. sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ We cannot approach the Lord or understand the Lord with blunt material senses. But when the Lord is satisfied with our service, He reveals Himself to us. As the Lord reveals Himself to the Pracetas, and such service begins with the tongue.

As Srila Prabhupada describes, the tongue, the belly, and the genitals come in a straight line, and if we control the tongue, there is every possibility we will be able to control the other senses. But if we fail to control the tongue, then we will not be able to control the other senses either. So, we must control the tongue. The tongue has two functions: tasting and vibrating. So, we should not allow the tongue to taste anything except Krishna prasādam. Sometimes people challenge us, “Why are you vegetarian? The vegetables also have life like the animal. So, we are eating animals, and you are eating vegetables. But both of us are taking life. So, what is the difference?” The difference is that Krishna orders us to offer vegetarian food to Him. Just like Krishna ordered Arjuna to fight against the Kauravas, similarly, Krishna tells every one of us to take vegetarian food and offer it to Him. And because the order is coming from Krishna, there is no sin on the part of the performer.

Everything depends on the order of the Lord and the satisfaction of the Lord. If Krishna is the supreme authority, He is beyond duality. He is beyond pious activities and sinful activities. He is on the absolute platform. And if we act according to the direction of Krishna, we will also stand on the absolute platform. As stated by Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā, mam ca yo ‘vyabhicarena bhakti yogena sevatesa, if one engages in unfailing devotional service, He transcends the modes of material nature and comes to the platform of brahman. brahmārpaṇam So, when we offer food, from everything is on the brahman platform, and therefore, there is no contamination of material nature, of the modes of material nature. And by such activity, such pure devotional service, one becomes firmly established on the brahman platform, where he can peacefully and happily serve the supreme brahman. And that is the goal of all of our activities in life. They should be re-directed towards pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And by pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we are successful.

The Pracetas or any other pure devotee has no other desire but the satisfaction of Hari, Lord Krishna. But automatically, they get the benefits of material opulence and spiritual liberation. They don’t want it, and they don’t ask for it, and they don’t try for it, but automatically, they get it by the mercy of the Lord.

So, one who engages in pure devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is automatically liberated from material contamination. He automatically rises to the brahman platform, where very happily and peacefully, he can serve the supreme brahman in this life and the next. He has nothing else to do, nothing else to think about, nothing else to worry, only how to serve and please Krishna. And if Krishna is pleased, our life is successful. And at the end of Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna specifically says that one who engages in preaching is the dear most servant of the Lord. And for one who fully dedicates himself to preaching, without any reservation, pure devotional service is guaranteed. And in the end, he goes back home, back to Godhead. So we should please the Lord by any means. And the Lord is most pleased, and the pure devotee is pleased, when more and more people come to Krishna consciousness. Because Krishna is most pleased when more and more people come to Krishna.

So, if we work to spread Krishna consciousness, following the orders of Srila Prabhupada, under the guidance of Srila Prabhupada, we will please Krishna in the best possible way. And at the same time, we will receive the supreme benediction of pure devotional service to Krishna in the spiritual world. Hare Krishna.

Any questions or comments? Any message from you to the devotees apart from the class?

Devotee 1: [Unintelligible 00:36:50]

Giriraj Swami: Achutaya Chaitanya Prabhu says that he has heard that when the Lord is pleased with the devotee, He will take away all of His opulences. Then again, he hears that one who engages in pure devotional service enjoys all opulences. So, he wants to know about his future.

He is very worried about his future, whether the Lord will give him all opulence or take everything away. So, it is true. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Krishna says yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi that when I want to give special mercy to some devotee, hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ I take away all of his opulences. meaning I take away all of his attachments. Because the neophyte devotee or the imperfect devotee who desires to serve Krishna, but at the same time, desires to enjoy matter, he cannot dedicate himself fully to the service of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord, knowing the heart of the devotee, that really, he wants to serve the Lord, helps him by taking away his material attachment. And then, when he is deprived of his material attachment, he can serve the Lord wholly and solely and thus receives the greatest mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So definitely, to be deprived of one’s material opulences or one’s material attachment is the Lord’s mercy upon the devotee. But at the same time, when the devotee is completely purified and has no material attachment, then he can use anything and everything in the service of the Lord. And the Lord can give him all facilities to serve the Lord, knowing that the devotee will not become deviated in the Lord’s service.

We see in the case of Bali Maharaja that the Lord took everything away from him, which was certainly the mercy of the Lord. But later, the Lord gave Bali Maharaja immense material opulence, and not only immense material opulence, but the Lord gave Himself to Bali Maharaja. Srila Prabhupada says that whenever the Lord takes something away from the devotee, it is only to give him something better. And of course, the best thing is Krishna, and ultimately, Krishna gave Himself to Bali Maharaja. So, Srila Prabhupada says that although the Lord’s mercy comes when the Lord takes the material attachments from the devotee, the even greater mercy is when the Lord gives all facility to the devotee to serve the Lord, when the devotee is completely purified from any tendency to enjoy material facilities. Srila Prabhupada even saw the same process in his life. He said that at first, Krishna tested me by taking everything away from me, and later, Krishna tested me by giving me everything. So, both are tests, and both are the mercy of the Lord. When the Lord takes everything away from us, it is His mercy to free us from material attachment so that we can engage wholly and solely in the service of the Lord. And then again, when He gives us all material facilities to be engaged in His service, it is also His mercy to help us in our service for Him, to help us in our desire to please Him more and more. He gives us more and more facilities. But the devotee is equal in any situation.

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ (Bhāg. 6.17.28)

Devotee who is absorbed in the service of the Lord, is equal in any situation. He may be in heaven, he may be in hell, he may be given liberation, he may come back again, but he is equipoised. He is the same in all circumstances because he is engaged in the service of the Lord and he has no other desire. So, wherever he is, he can be engaged in the service of the Lord. Prahlada Maharaja also says to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva—That I’m not at all afraid of material existence because wherever I am, I can merge myself into the nectarean ocean of Your glories, hearing and chanting Your glories. So, for myself, I have no problem even in the material world. But I do have one concern, I do have one anxiety, and that is for the poor conditioned souls who are suffering in the material world without the shelter of Your lotus feet. I know that without the shelter of the lotus feet, they cannot be happy. So, my anxiety is for them, how they can come back to the shelter of Your lotus feet. But otherwise, the devotee has no lamentation. Our only lamentation is that the poor fallen souls are not taken to Krishna consciousness.

Devotee 2: [Unintelligible 00:44:10]

Giriraj Swami: He says that Aryan means one who knows the progressive values of life. But the atmosphere in Kali-yuga is so vitiated that almost no one knows the real goal of life, outside of Srila Prabhupada’s followers. And even among Srila Prabhupada followers, sometimes we forget. So, it is true, but what is the solution?

The solution is to be completely focused on Srila Prabhupada and his instructions. Like once Amogh lila was speaking to Srila Prabhupada in Bombay and he was complaining about the fact that we have hired cooks. They clean, they wash the pots and utensils, they wash their clothes, they wash the buildings, they clean the toilets, they do everything. But when they come to India, they think they have to have servants to do things for them. And Srila Prabhupada quoted the saying that anyone who goes to Lanka becomes a Rāvaṇa. So, he was saying that any devotee who comes to India becomes a Rāvaṇa, and he thinks he has to have servants to serve him. Then Amoga lila started speaking about following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. And then Amoga lila said that, so Srila Prabhupada if we just follow your instructions, then all of our problems will be solved. And Srila Prabhupada replied that this means you have become a Rāvaṇa. The fact that you even have to ask the question, that if we follow your instructions, all of our problems will be solved, proves that you have also become a Rāvaṇa. Because obviously, all our problems will be solved if we follow the instructions. We don’t even have to ask. The fact that we have to ask, the fact that we even have any doubt about it, shows that we have become affected.

So, it is true, Kali-yuga is very strong. The atmosphere is very contaminated, and we can be affected. And we can lose sight of Srila Prabhupada and his goals and his instruction. And then instead of thinking, what is Srila Prabhupada’s agenda and what are Srila Prabhupada priorities, we think, what is our agenda, what are our priorities? And we should not have any different agenda or any different priorities than Srila Prabhupada. And if we work in that spirit and live in that spirit, then we won’t be affected by Kali-yuga much. We won’t forget the actual goal of life. But it is a fact that because we are not fully surrendered to Srila Prabhupada’s vision, that we, instead of thinking, what would Srila Prabhupada want or what would Srila Prabhupada do, we think what will please the people or what will please us. The result is we become weak. We can’t relish the nectar of Krishna consciousness fully, neither can we preach so effectively.

I think the only solution is that we have to fully surrender to Srila Prabhupada fully and just in every circumstance, in every issue, really just try to understand what Srila Prabhupada wants. If we don’t have our own attachments and aversions, then we will know. He will help us to know what he wants us to do. When our own attachments are involved, then we may be afraid that Srila Prabhupada’s priority may conflict with my priority, and then our surrender is not perfect.

I think that, to greater or lesser degrees, we have all somehow. . . Well, it is the nature of the conditioned soul in the material world, but now somehow or other, we should understand that without Srila Prabhupada, we cannot be successful, and surrender fully to his way of doing things.

Devotee 3: [Unintelligible 00:51:10]

Giriraj Swami: Yasomati Nandana Prabhu said if we take a dough, we may find that there is less salt, then we can add more salt and correct it. So, in the same way, we have to test whatever we are doing according to sadhu, shastra, and guru. And then we will know. And as we read, the test of all our activities is how much Lord is please. And for us, the test of all our activities will be how much Srila Prabhupada we please. Because if he is pleased, then Krishna will certainly be pleased.

So, he is asking a personal question, whether I feel that we are testing our activities enough. And personally, I would say no. I see, in big and small ways, gross and subtle ways, we have deviated from Srila Prabhupada’s emphasis, from Srila Prabhupada’s vision. From Srila Prabhupada priorities, we have actually concocted so many things, or we have been influenced by other people who are on the material platform, on the speculative platform, because we have become weak and, of course, when Srila Prabhupada was personally present, he was there to protect us. But now, the only thing we have to protect us is our surrender to Srila Prabhupada. If our surrender is weak, then we will become weak, and we will be subject to maya’s influence in different forms. So, I personally believe that we should step back and see where we are and what we are doing, and where Srila Prabhupada wants us to be. and we should set aside all our conceptions, all of our attachments, all of our false identity, and just act as humble servants of Srila Prabhupada and do whatever he would want, and not try to live some role or some image. I mean, and of course, the process should go on, on all levels, but obviously it has to start at the top. And at the top also, we may have been carried away by the idea that I am such and such, and instead of just thinking, What does Prabhupada want me to do? We are thinking how to play the part. Of whatever, of course, that may also be part of our service, but it means to be a guru, to be a sannyasi, to be GBC But basically, first and foremost, we are humble servants of Srila Prabhupada, selfless servants of Srila Prabhupada, and that should take precedence over any other conception.

Devotee 4: [Unintelligible 00:56:15]

Giriraj Swami: It is true. I mean, in the Fourth Canto, Srila Prabhupada writes that when the spiritual master disappears, there is chaos, and the sincere disciples of the spiritual master try to relieve the situation by strictly following the orders of the spiritual master. Now, the instruction sounds very easy, but actually if we actually did it, we would be able to repeat this situation. But, when I said, when Srila Prabhupada has his agenda, and we have our own agendas, and how will it work? We can’t have any different agenda, any different priority, or any different approach than Srila Prabhupada.

After the first Delhi pandal Srila Prabhupada told all the leaders of India to get together and make a plan for all of India. And after they’ve made the plan, they should assign the devotees to the different services. In other words, Srila Prabhupada wanted the devotees to think of what was best for the mission without any personal consideration: that I want to be here, I want to do this, I don’t want to do that. But without any attachment or aversion, just think of what is best, and then see who can do what.

And I feel we need to do that. We need to just step back and see what Srila Prabhupada want and what would be the best way to accomplish what Srila Prabhupada would want, and then see who can do what. But we are starting from ourselves. What is my position? What is my service? What is my location? What is my facility? And there are too many different centers of interest. There should only be one center of interest, which is Srila Prabhupada, of course, his mercy is there, and there are many sincere devotees, and Srila Prabhupada reveals his will through them. And sometimes, if we really go off the course, he chastises us and brings us back to his lotus feet.

So, I mean, Srila Prabhupada is still there, helping us. But then again, we are also expected to cooperate, and things are going on. But if we really cooperated fully, wholeheartedly, gave up all personal considerations and all separate interests, and really surrendered ourselves as instruments in Prabhupada’s hands then there is no telling what we could do. I mean, he, we haven’t abandoned him, and he hasn’t abandoned us, but our surrender could be more strong and more full, and then our progress would be better. But I think with the Srila Prabhupada centennial coming. Here, I always think that Srila Prabhupada came here twenty-five years ago, and so many people chanted and danced, and that was the Krishna consciousness, speaking Bhagavad philosophy, doing hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, chanting, dance, preaching, philosophy. So, I feel that on the occasion of the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the visit of Srila Prabhupada to Surat, we should see how much chanting and dancing and feasting and philosophy is going on. I think that was what Srila Prabhupada did when he came here, and that’s what he would want us to do, and that is our process.

All the other activities are really just to facilitate chanting, which is obviously the main process. So, if we get distracted creating the facilities for chanting and then we forget chanting and dancing, then, we are somewhat diverted. And then again, it is not that everyone has to do the same service or has to do the same duties. Someone may be involved in collecting, somebody may be involved in purchasing materials, somebody may be involved in building. But somebody has to be involved in preaching.

In Juhu in one stage, Srila Prabhupada detected that we were not preaching. He said that we were thinking that when we get the big temple, then we will preach. But his idea was no, that even without the big temple, we should preach. So, the preaching must go on, with or without the other activities, but the preaching must go on. So sometimes, we do get involved in collecting and building, and building also means managing. We need people to manage. And then somehow, when it comes time to preach, everyone’s busy. So, we, I believe, I mean, from my conversations with Srila Prabhupada was not, or to put it in another way, Srila Prabhupada was concerned that we should really give people spiritual knowledge. And that even if we just had a simple hall where people could come and hear, that would be sufficient. He was saying that the intelligent class is not impressed by temple worship. Generally, the intelligent class is not impressed by temple worship, but they want some knowledge, they want some knowledge.

So, it is true that by big temples, we may attract a certain class, by deity worship we may attract a certain class, but Srila Prabhupada mainly wanted to preach to the intelligence class. The intelligence class will respond to the philosophy. They don’t want to just go by sentiment, they will respond to the philosophy. I think that has to be there.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol.