Srila Prabhupada’s Tolerance

Giriraj Swami: So, there are two Krishnas, according to shastra. One is Krishna and the other is the name of Krishna, and they are both Krishna. We may distinguish between the two only because of imperfect realization or incomplete realization. But when we actually realize what is the holy name of Krishna, we will know that it is Krishna, and therefore everything is there in the holy name; just within the holy name. And Hare, of course, means Srimati Radharani; Hara. So, when we chant the holy name of Krishna, Krishna is actually present. And as we progress in chanting, we will realize more and more that Krishna actually is present, and we won’t make a distinction between the name Krishna and the person Krishna. And Krishna is never alone; He is always accompanied by His associates, and He is always in His dhāma. So everything is there in the holy name—Krishna and His associates in Krishna’s holy land. And it is the spiritual world; the whole spiritual world is there in the holy name. Once, Satsvarupa Maharaja asked Srila Prabhupada that, now you are here, so if we have any question we can ask you. But what about when you are not here? What should we do? And Srila Prabhupada replied that the holy name of Krishna is the same as Krishna. Do you understand this? And that was the answer.

So, nāma cintāmaṇiḥ Krishnaḥ, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. All the qualities of Krishna are there in the holy name of Krishna, because the holy name of Krishna and Krishna, Himself, are the same in every respect. Whatever attribute we can ascribe to Krishna, we can also ascribe to the holy name, and therefore we need do nothing else but chant the holy name. Nothing else. Chanting the holy name is sufficient for our own deliverance, and it is sufficient for preaching. Just chanting the holy name. We do speak, but the actual purpose of speaking is to convince people to chant the holy name. Srila Prabhupada started Back to Godhead Magazine, but he said the actual purpose of Back to Godhead Magazine is to convince people to chant the holy name. We make so many arrangements, have so many programs, open so many centers, build so many temples, but the actual purpose is to give facility to people to chant the holy name because everything is there. And the more we chant, the more we relish. Any material sound or any material thing, we cannot relish increasingly. In fact, the opposite takes place. That is if we are hungry; so when we begin to taste the food, it is very delicious. But we eat more and more; gradually our stomach gets filled, and we don’t appreciate the taste so much, and eventually we become disgusted. We don’t want to eat anymore.

Srila Prabhupada said that when you have eaten enough, you cannot take even one more sweet ball. Of course, in the beginning days of Krishna consciousness, the sweet ball was considered to be the ultimate experience in transcendental bliss. Srila Prabhupada said that when you are satiated, even though you want to take, but actually you cannot take even one more sweet ball. Sweet balls were so important, and perhaps I may have mentioned before, that Srila Prabhupada used to keep a jar of sweet balls by the door of the temple at 26th Second Avenue, because he had so much faith – of course, he had faith in the holy name, but he also had so much faith in kṛṣṇa-prasādam, that if the young people would take kṛṣṇa-prasādam, they would become purified and satisfied. And, it is true that kṛṣṇa-prasādam is very important in Krishna consciousness, because devotees have no sense gratification. Srila Prabhupada said their only sense gratification is kṛṣṇa-prasādam. And one can feel so satisfied by taking kṛṣṇa-prasādam, he won’t think of any other type of enjoyment. So, in the beginning especially, Srila Prabhupada used to force the devotees—not force, but encourage the devotees—to take more and more prasāda so that their senses would be fully satisfied with kṛṣṇa-prasāda. And anyone who would come to visit him, he would give them a sweet ball, which is like a gulab jamun. But, the way Srila Prabhupada made the sweet balls was different. It was made from cheese; it was pure cheese fried in ghee and soaked in sugar water, and they were golden; they were really golden.

He would keep a jar of sweet balls near the entrance to the temple room. So, if anyone wanted to leave Krishna consciousness, he would first have to pass the jar of sweet balls. And when he would see the sweet balls, definitely, he would think that, well, before I go, I should take some. And after taking one or two, three, four, any number, most likely he would give up the idea of leaving. He would realize the higher taste of Krishna consciousness, and even if he ate so many that he couldn’t move, that was also not bad. So very important, kṛṣṇa-prasāda is also Krishna. And these two processes—chanting the holy name and taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda — are the special gift, are the special mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatāri. Many people don’t know—of course, devotees here know—but many people don’t know who is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, actually. Some people have only heard the name; they have no idea. And other people have the idea that He was some saint in Eastern India. But very few people know the fact that He is actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, descended in the age of Kali to reclaim the fallen souls. He is Krishna, but He has assumed the complexion of Srimati Radharani and the mood of Srimati Radharani of love for Krishna, especially love in the mood of separation. And also, He is considered the most munificent incarnation of God, because He freely gives kṛṣṇa-prema. So, before coming here, we inquired if there is any particular verse, and the devotee here, Krishna Nanda Prabhu said that—I don’t know if he was speaking for himself or for everyone—but he said we like caitanya-līlā. Haribol!

So, I thought that I will read something about how Srila Prabhupada presented caitanya-līlā, or wanted to present caitanya-līlā in the beginning of ISKCON. Now, we are going back in time to 1967. Srila Prabhupada had just incorporated ISKCON in New York, in 1966, and there was only one center in ISKCON, at first, in New York. Then, some disciples began the second center in San Francisco, so then there were two. So the discussion, now, takes place in San Francisco, and Srila Prabhupada is about to explain caitanya-līlā. And he is instructing one disciple, named Hayagrīva Prabhu how to present caitanya-līlā in dramatic form. Actually, Srila Prabhupada had written a play about caitanya-līlā, and he was explaining the ideas to Hayagrīva. He had the idea of the play, and he was explaining the ideas to Hayagrīva Prabhu. Just before coming into the temple, we had a counselor’s meeting. In other words, all of the counselors met together with Devāmṛta Prabhu, and Krishna Candra Prabhu made a wonderful point that he thought that every devotee should see the films or the videos of Srila Prabhupada in the early days of ISKCON, in America. He felt that unless the devotees actually see the films, they cannot appreciate the situation where Srila Prabhupada entered and preached Krishna consciousness to the young people. He said we can read about it or hear about it, but we can only imagine what it was like. But, when we see the video, then we can actually have some idea where Srila Prabhupada was and what he did.

And coming here, I thought that it may be true, because those of us who were fortunate enough to come to India with Srila Prabhupada, we had so many experiences in India with the Vedic culture. We would accompany Srila Prabhupada to the homes of very aristocratic people, and we would learn what is Vedic culture. And after I left India for some years and tried to teach the devotees in other countries about the culture and the etiquette, I found that they could not learn very quickly. And then, I thought that if I had never been in India and actually lived with the people here, I might be the same. I wouldn’t really know how to serve prasāda properly or even how to take prasāda properly. So, without really living with the people here, devotees in the West, they can only imagine, but they have never really experienced how civilized the people here are. So, I think in the same way, without seeing the videos, one cannot know how uncivilized the people there are, and therefore how wonderful Srila Prabhupada’s achievement was. So, now we will read something.

ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA-LĪLĀMṚTA, CHAPTER 24

Hayagrīva sat facing Prabhupāda, alone with Prabhupāda in his room. A few days before, Hayagrīva had shown Prabhupāda a play about Lord Caitanya he had found in the library, and Prabhupāda had said it wasn’t bonafide. So, Prabhupāda decided to prepare an outline for a bona fide play, and have Hayagrīva write it.

“I will give you the whole plot complete,” Srila Prabhupada said. “Then, all you have to do is execute it.”

Prabhupāda was in a relaxed, jolly mood, intent on relating the events of Lord Caitanya’s life. He had prepared an outline of twenty-three scenes, and now he wanted to expound each one. Hayagrīva had barely enough time to understand what Prabhupāda was about to do, and almost no time to prepare himself for note-taking as Prabhupāda began describing the first scene.

“First scene,” he began, “is that people are passing on the road with saṅkīrtana, just as we do. There is a very nice procession with mṛdaṅga and karatālas and that bugle. . .”

COMMENT

Because Hayagrīva Prabhu used to play a trumpet, so Srila Prabhupada was including it in the play.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

“. . .and all people are doing saṅkīrtana in the ordinary way. We have to make a nice procession.”

 “The second scene shows Kali as decorated, blackish with royal dress and very ugly features.”

COMMENT

So, we are in the age of Kali. Everyone has heard Kali-yuga, but who is Kali? Srila Prabhupada has explained that Kali is actually a demigod in charge of Kali-yuga. You may have read the story in the First Canto of the Bhāgavatam that Kali came to earth about five thousand years ago during the reign of Maharaja Parīkṣit. And when Maharaja Parīkṣit was touring his kingdom, he found some blackish man beating a cow; torturing a cow. And immediately, Maharaja Parīkṣit took out his sword. He was ready to kill the culprit, because the cow is respected so much in Vedic culture as mother. Even in preaching in the West, Srila Prabhupada would convince the people about the cow, because she gives us milk, and therefore, she is our mother. So how can we kill our mother? But Kali was so fallen and so cruel that he was torturing the cow. So, Maharaja Parīkṣit was ready to kill the culprit when he surrendered to Maharaja Parīkṣit. And in Vedic culture, if anyone surrenders to a king, then the king must accept him and give him shelter. So, Kali said, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I am surrendering to you. Now you should give me some place in your kingdom where I can live.”

Now, the personality of Kali, he can only live where there is sinful activity, because Kali-yuga means sinful activity. So Maharaja Parīkṣit said, “All right, I will give you four places where you can live. You can live where there is meat-eating, where there is intoxication, where there is illicit sex, and where there is gambling.” But, Kali was not satisfied at all, because he said that in your kingdom these four things do not exist, so still I will have no place to live.” Then, Maharaja Parīkṣit said, “All right, you can stay wherever there is accumulation of gold; hoarding of gold.” Then Kali was satisfied, because where there is hoarding of gold, eventually the other sinful activities will be there. So, the business of Kali is to involve people in sinful activities, especially the four types of sinful activities and the accumulation of gold, or the hoarding of gold, which leads to the other sins. So, Srila Prabhupada is describing the second scene.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

“The second scene shows Kali as decorated, blackish with royal dress and very ugly features as described in the Bhāgavatam. And his queen is another ugly-featured lady. So they are disturbed. They will talk among themselves that there is the saṅkīrtana movement now, and how shall we prosecute our business in this Age of Quarrel, Kali-yuga? In that scene, there will be in one corner two or three people drinking.”

COMMENT

See, Srila Prabhupada is giving the whole philosophy shape in visual images. So in one corner of the stage, there will be two or three people drinking, because that is one of the places where Kali lives.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

“The Age of Quarrel personified and his consort are sitting in the center. In one corner, someone is taking part in drinking, in another part, somebody is illicitly talking of lust and love with a woman. In another section, there is the slaughtering of a cow, and in another section, gambling. In this way, that scene should be adjusted. And in the middle, the ugly man, Kali, and the ugly woman will talk that, “We are now in danger. The saṅkīrtana movement has started. What will we do?”

“Then the third scene is very nice – rāsa dance.”

Hayagrīva interrupted. He had some of his own ideas about what he called, “the dramatic point of view.” “I think,” Hayagrīva said, strongly articulating his words, “this can apply for the whole world in the sense that the names may be Indian, but I think the exhibition you described of the assembly of Kali and his consort Sin. . .”

COMMENT

Yes, Sin is the consort of Kali.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

“. . .and the exhibition of illicit sex and the slaughterhouse can all be from Western prototypes.”

COMMENT

In other words, it is an idea that instead of presenting the characters in Indian dress and Indian settings, the characters and settings should be Western.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

Srila Prabhupada said that he had no objection to Hayagrīva’s suggestion, but he didn’t want people to think he was singling out Westerners as if they were the only ones who committed illicit sex.

COMMENT

This is very important. It shows how considerate Srila Prabhupada was that he didn’t want the audience in the West to think that by depicting Westerners, he was specifically criticizing Westerners. In fact, the first editor of Back to Godhead was Rayarama, and Rayarama asked Srila Prabhupada if he could publish an article about cow slaughter or animal slaughter so that people could see how horrible it is. But Srila Prabhupada said, ”No.” Of course, there were other reasons also, but one reason Srila Prabhupada gave was that he didn’t want the butchers to feel that they were being singled out. Srila Prabhupada said we are not envious of anyone, and we are not envious of the butchers, either. And why should we single out the butchers? Because according to Vedic shastra, so many persons are involved in the murder of the animal, not only the one who actually kills him, but the person who raises the animal, the person who kills the animal, the person who transports the meat, the person who sells the meat, the person who cooks the meat, the person who serves the meat, the person who eats the meat—they are all implicated. It is just like if there is a murder, it is not only the one who pulls the trigger that is punished, but everyone involved in the conspiracy is equally punished. And now, in America at least, if someone just gives another person the idea that, “Oh, the man is coming in your way, why don’t you do something?” He is also punishable. He is also culpable. And I was reading recently about the seed. You have heard bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed of devotional service? Srila Prabhupada says the seed is the idea, or the plan, how to execute devotional service. And he explains that apart from the bhakti-latā-bīja, or the seed of devotional service within the heart, there may be other seeds for fruitive activity, for mental speculation, and whatnot.

So the seed is the idea, and eventually, the seed may fructify and bear fruit. So, everything is contained in the seed. So, if someone just gives another person an idea, that why don’t you do something about some person or some criminal suggestion, he is also involved, even if he has nothing to do with the actual crime. So Srila Prabhupada was saying that everyone is involved, not just the persons who are slaughtering the animals. So why should we criticize only them? Almost everyone is involved, at least in eating meat, so they are also equally responsible. So Srila Prabhupada said we are not envious of anyone. The whole society needs to be reformed, and we should not single out one section of society. The whole society needs to be reformed. So here also, Srila Prabhupada was very careful that the Westerners should not think that he is pointing the finger at them, that they are the ones only who are enjoying sinful activities.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

Hayagrīva was about to reply, but decided that this was no time to quibble. Swamiji was eager to go on describing the pastimes of Lord Caitanya.

Prabhupāda: “Rāsa dance means Krishna and Rādhārāṇī in the center, and the gopis are surrounding. You have seen that surrounding scene when they were dancing with us the other day in the park, hand to hand?”

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada used to go in the park with the devotees, and the young people, hippies, they used to gather around, hand in hand, and dance in a circle. So Srila Prabhupada is describing the rasa dance and he is reminding Hayagrīva Prabhu how the young people were dancing hand in hand in a circle in the park. So that is the idea of rasa dance.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

Hayagrīva: “Yes, yes.”

Prabhupāda: “So one Krishna and one gopī, they are dancing. That should be the scene. Then the rāsa dance should be stopped, and Krishna will talk with the gopīs. Krishna will say to the gopīs that, ‘My dear friends, you have come to Me in the dead of night. It is not very good, because it is the duty of every woman to please her husband. So what your husband will think if you come in such dead of night? Please go back.’”

“So, in this way, the gopīs will reply that, ‘You cannot request us to go back, because with great difficulty and with great ecstatic desire, we have come to You. And it is not Your duty to ask us to go back.’ In this way, you arrange some talking that Krishna is asking them to go back, but they are insisting, ‘No, let us continue our rāsa dance.’”

 “When the rāsa dance is finished, the gopīs will go, and then Krishna will say, ‘These gopīs are My heart and soul. They are so sincere devotees. They do not care for family encumbrances or any bad name. They come to Me. So how shall I repay them?’ He was thinking, ‘How shall I repay their ecstatic love?’ So he thought that, ‘I cannot repay them unless I take up their situation to understand Me. But I Myself cannot understand Me. I have to take the position of the gopīs – how they are loving Me.’”

“So with that consideration, He took the form of Lord Caitanya. Therefore, Krishna is blackish, and Lord Caitanya is the color of the gopis. The whole life of Lord Caitanya is the representation of the gopis’ love for Krishna. That should be painted in the picture of this scene. Do you have anything to ask?”

Hayagrīva: “This is His determination to incarnate as Lord Caitanya?”

Prabhupāda: “Lord Caitanya, yes.”

Hayagrīva: “In order to. . .?”

Prabhupāda: “In order to appreciate Krishna in the form of a gopī. Just like I have got dealings with you, so you have got your individuality, and I have got my individuality. But if I want to study how you are so much obedient and loving to me, then I have to go to your position. It is very natural psychology. You have to paint in that way.”

Prabhupāda described and explained one story after another, most of them new to Hayagrīva. Hayagrīva couldn’t properly spell or even pronounce the names. He didn’t know who Lord Caitanya’s mother was or whether Nityānanda was a devotee. And when Prabhupāda told the story of Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha, the Deity who stole condensed milk for His devotee, Hayagrīva got confused and thought Prabhupāda had said that Lord Caitanya had stolen the condensed milk.

Prabhupāda: “No. Oh. Did you not hear? Caitanya, after seeing the Deity, He was sitting and seeing, and meantime Nityānanda Prabhu narrated the story of how the Deity’s name became Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha. You do not follow me?”

Hayagrīva groped, “Nityānanda?”

Prabhupāda: “Nityānanda was going with Lord Caitanya.”

Hayagrīva: “Nityānanda was narrating this to Lord Caitanya.”

Prabhupāda: “Yes. The Deity was known as Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha. The story,” Prabhupāda repeated for the third time, “was narrated that formerly He stole one pot of condensed milk for His devotee.”

Hayagrīva: “Now, what direct relationship does this have to Lord Caitanya?”

Prabhupāda: “Lord Caitanya visited this temple. Anyone in those days going to Jagannātha Purī from Bengal had to pass that way. And on the way, the Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha temple is there. So everyone used to visit. Formerly, Mādhavendra Purī also visited, and for him, the Deity stole the condensed milk. From that time, the Deity is known as Kṣīra-corā-gopīnātha. That story was narrated to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So while sitting before the Deity, the story was narrated, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu relished that God is so kind that sometimes He steals for His devotee. That is the significance.”

COMMENT

Actually, once we read this story here.

CHAPTER 24 (continued)

“So here, the scene should be arranged that it is a very nice temple, the Deity is within, and Lord Caitanya has entered while chanting Hare Krishna. And then, He saw the worship, ārati. These things are to be shown in this scene and a little story about Him. That is all.”

When Prabhupāda told of Lord Caitanya’s visit to the Sākṣi-gopāla temple, Hayagrīva again got lost. “Do you follow?” Prabhupāda asked.

“No,” Hayagrīva chuckled. “No.”

COMMENT

So we will end, because it is a long story. Srila Prabhupada goes through all of caitanya-līlā. And the description of caitanya-līlā is very interesting, but it is also very amazing how Srila Prabhupada came to the West and preached, because the people there had no idea about Krishna consciousness at all. And Srila Prabhupada was so patient. He had to begin from the very beginning and explain. Some of the early devotees told me that, in the beginning, Srila Prabhupada had to spend so much time just on the basic principles and getting the devotees to offer their food before they ate. Many devotees would come to the temple with their cats and dogs. Really, they would come with their cats and dogs. And, it is described in San Francisco that, near the temple, there was an ice cream parlor, and sometimes when Srila Prabhupada would pass on the street, he would look in the window of the ice cream parlor and see the devotees there sitting and eating ice cream.

So, we were discussing in the meeting earlier how hard it is to change people’s habits. Once they get in a certain habit, they don’t change very easily, even for a better purpose. But the habits that we are talking about here and the habits that the young people in the West had are still quite different. But Srila Prabhupada was extremely patient and tolerant, and this should be a great lesson to all of us when we preach, because now things are getting bad everywhere, and everywhere people are quite fallen. Not like in the West, but still to some extent. And the preacher has to be very patient and tolerant. Of course, in Juhu in particular, Srila Prabhupada had to face so much difficulty – in another way, but he had to face so much difficulty, and he had to be very patient and tolerant. In Srila Prabhupada’s last days in Juhu, say, in September of 1977, just before he went to Vrindavan to spend his remaining days, he was lying on his bed, Actually, the same bed is there at Juhu; you can visit Srila Prabhupada’s quarters and see the same place where Srila Prabhupada was lying on the bed and also the places where he was translating and doing other things. And the devotees were sitting on the floor around the bed, and they were recounting all the difficulties that Srila Prabhupada went through to establish the Juhu temple. Srila Prabhupada was listening very intently, and Srila Prabhupada was so weak he could hardly speak. And if at all he tried to speak, just one or two words, very faintly. The devotees would really have to listen, ‘What is Srila Prabhupada saying.”

So, after hearing the whole story of Juhu and Srila Prabhupada’s struggle in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada felt that the devotees had missed one point. So, lying on his bed, he tried to say, “That dog.” So, the devotees heard Srila Prabhupada says “That dog.” So, what he was talking about? So, someone thought maybe he was referring to Mr. N, or maybe someone else in the conspiracy. But no, Srila Prabhupada said, “That dog.” So, it turned out that, because there was no place for Srila Prabhupada to stay on Hare Krishna Land, at first, he was staying with different friends and life members in the Juhu area, often in some bungalow they had by the seaside where they did not stay, or in some new construction which was not completed. So, there was one man, a nice man in the Juhu scheme, and he had a very big bungalow which belonged to the company. But just next to it, he was building another bungalow which would be his own personal property. So, he arranged that Srila Prabhupada could stay in the new construction, next door. Every morning, Srila Prabhupada used to like to walk on Juhu Beach. So the man, would take Srila Prabhupada in the car every morning, and Srila Prabhupada and the man would sit in the front seat together with the man’s dog. So, of course, we may not appreciate what Srila Prabhupada felt, but he felt [Break in audio 00:45:26] next to a dog was something terrible that he had to undergo for the sake of Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari and Hare Krishna Land. So, after the devotees recounted all the different struggles that Srila Prabhupada went through, he said, “That dog"—- that he had to sit next to a dog in a car every morning on the way to Juhu Beach. So, whether Srila Prabhupada was in America with young people, even hippies, or in India with affluent people and cultured people, he had to tolerate so much. But he did it all, why? For the sake of Krishna and Krishna’s mission. Krishna’s mission is to reclaim all the fallen souls and bring them back home, back to Godhead.

For one period, Srila Prabhupada stayed at Hare Krishna Land for three months, continuously. Generally, Srila Prabhupada would stay in places for three days or one week; hardly he would stay in a place for three weeks. But he stayed in Juhu for three months, continuously, and every evening he would speak on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. No matter what the problems were during the day, but whatever it was, at the time of ārati, he would leave everything and go to the temple and speak beautifully on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. At one stage, we were trying to get the permission from the police commissioner to build the temple because we needed the NOC from the police commissioner dealing with traffic and other considerations. So, it was a big thing: How to get the NOC, and almost every day we would go to the city and meet people. We would try to get back for the lecture, and we would usually reach just in time, coming by train. We wouldn’t eat anything all day except maybe some peanuts that the vendors would sell on the footpath. So, we would be quite exhausted, in one sense, but we would be eager to hear Srila Prabhupada’s lecture. One evening, we reached in time for the kirtan during the ārati before the lecture. It was another discouraging day; we weren’t getting any help from anyone. During the lecture, Srila Prabhupada commented that we have to dance during the kirtan even if we don’t get permission from the police commissioner. But Srila Prabhupada, he was not like us. Whatever it was, whatever the difficulty was, he would just leave it, and he would go in the temple, and he’d be completely fixed in the kirtan or in the prāvacana on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Eventually, he came to the verse in the Third Canto which described the symptoms of the sadhu, and he related the description of the qualities of the sadhu to himself and the whole situation at Hare Krishna Land. So first, titikṣava—we must tolerate. That we have discussed. But why tolerate? Kāruṇika—because the sadhu is very merciful. And Srila Prabhupada said that we could think that, ‘All right, the people in Bombay don’t like us; we have so many temples throughout the world. We don’t have to stay in Bombay if the people don’t like us.’ But Srila Prabhupada said, “No, kāruṇika—the sadhu is merciful.” He knows that people are suffering without Krishna consciousness, and therefore he is determined to give them Krishna consciousness even if they don’t like it; and to do so, titikṣava—he has to tolerate so many things. So, it is a wonderful lecture. I think the devotees here are considering, once a week during the time of Bhāgavatam class, to have a lecture of Srila Prabhupada, video and maybe sometimes audio. But anyway, this is a wonderful lecture where Srila Prabhupada expresses his own feelings, how he had to tolerate so much to give mercy to the fallen souls. And again, the real way that we can experience the mercy is through the chanting, and therefore, Srila Prabhupada named Juhu, Hare Krishna Land, because he wanted people to chant Hare Krishna. That is practically all he wanted, because he knew if they chanted Hare Krishna, and of course, took to the whole process of Krishna consciousness which follows from chanting Hare Krishna, all of their problems would be solved and they would become happy in life.

Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Haribol.

Giriraj Swami: So, are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: Jayadeva Goswami describes Kali as one of the avatars of Krishna or Vishnu. Then how come he was chastised by Parīkṣit Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: He says that Jayadeva Gosvami has listed Kali as one of the avatars of Krishna, so why did Maharaja Parīkṣit chastise him?

But I think he has not listed Kali as one of the avatars; he has listed Kalki. Kalki is different. Kalki appears at the end of the age of Kali, and because people have become so fallen and so hostile to Krishna consciousness, He just rides on His horse, and with His sword, He kills them. It is a good point because people may be confused. And there is also Kali, the goddess Kali. She is also different from Kali. On one morning walk, just coming from the Juhu Beach to the temple, Srila Prabhupada said that if we get control of the government, we will go to the people with gun and say, “Either you chant Hare Krishna or we will kill you.” So this is another expression of mercy; this is another demonstration. But I was very timid, I don’t know what word to use, but then Srila Prabhupada paused, and he turned to me and he said, “Giriraj, what do you think of this proposal?” And then, he turned to the others and said, “Giriraj is nonviolent.” So, no sentimentality in Krishna consciousness. Just pure love which can take any shape. So Kalki, He doesn’t even give them the choice; He just kills them. So Srila Prabhupada is still more merciful.