BG 11.55 – Service in Separation—Part 01

Giriraj Swami: We shall read from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Eleven, Text Fifty-five. This is actually the last verse in the Eleventh Chapter.

TEXT 55

mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo
mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ
nirvairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu
yaḥ sa mām eti pāṇḍava

TRANSLATION

My dear Arjuna, he who engages in My pure devotional service, free from the contaminations of fruitive activities and mental speculation, he who works for Me, who makes Me the supreme goal of his life, and who is friendly to every living being – he certainly comes to Me.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Anyone who wants to approach the supreme of all the Personalities of Godhead, on the Kṛṣṇaloka planet in the spiritual sky, and be intimately connected with the Supreme Personality, Kṛṣṇa, must take this formula, as stated by the Supreme Himself. Therefore, this verse is considered to be the essence of Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is a book directed to the conditioned souls, who are engaged in the material world with the purpose of lording it over nature and who do not know of the real, spiritual life. The Bhagavad-gītā is meant to show how one can understand his spiritual existence and his eternal relationship with the supreme spiritual personality and to teach one how to go back home, back to Godhead. Now here is the verse which clearly explains the process by which one can attain success in his spiritual activity: devotional service.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna. The present verse of Bhagavad-gītā explains the process by which one can go back home, back to Godhead, namely the process of devotional service. One can understand the process as described in the scriptures, but to better appreciate the process, one should associate with devotees who are engaged in the process and learn from their examples as well as their precepts.

Many of us just celebrated the birth anniversary of one devotee who exemplified the verse here in Bhagavad-gītā, namely Sripada Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, Sri Gurudeva. And because he did exemplify the description mentioned in the verse, we are also confident that he achieved the result mentioned in the verse, which is to go to Krishna. So, we will continue to read the description in the purport and see how His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami exemplified the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

As far as work is concerned, one should transfer his energy entirely to Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. As stated in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.255),

anāsaktasya viṣayān
yathārham upayuñjataḥ
nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe
yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate

No work should be done by any man except in relationship to Kṛṣṇa. This is called kṛṣṇa-karma. One may be engaged in various activities, but one should not be attached to the result of his work; the result should be done only for Him. For example, one may be engaged in business, but to transform that activity into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one has to do business for Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of the business, then Kṛṣṇa should enjoy the profit of the business. If a businessman is in possession of thousands and thousands of dollars, and if he has to offer all this to Kṛṣṇa, he can do it. This is work for Kṛṣṇa. Instead of constructing a big building for his sense gratification, he can construct a nice temple for Kṛṣṇa, and he can install the Deity of Kṛṣṇa and arrange for the Deity’s service, as is outlined in the authorized books of devotional service. This is all kṛṣṇa-karma. One should not be attached to the result of his work, but the result should be offered to Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept as prasādam the remnants of offerings to Kṛṣṇa. If one constructs a very big building for Kṛṣṇa and installs the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, one is not prohibited from living there, but it is understood that the proprietor of the building is Kṛṣṇa. That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If, however, one is not able to construct a temple for Kṛṣṇa, one can engage himself in cleansing the temple of Kṛṣṇa; that is also kṛṣṇa-karma. One can cultivate a garden. Anyone who has land – in India, at least, any poor man has a certain amount of land – can utilize that for Kṛṣṇa by growing flowers to offer Him. One can sow tulasī plants, because tulasī leaves are very important and Kṛṣṇa has recommended this in Bhagavad-gītā. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. Kṛṣṇa desires that one offer Him either a leaf, or a flower, or fruit, or a little water – and by such an offering He is satisfied. This leaf especially refers to the tulasī. So one can sow tulasī and pour water on the plant. Thus, even the poorest man can engage in the service of Kṛṣṇa. These are some of the examples of how one can engage in working for Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

So, the scriptures also define the acharya, that the acharya is one who abides by the scriptures, who teaches the scriptures to his disciples, and who engages his disciples according to the scriptures. And here in Houston, we see the practical example of working for Krishna, Krishna-karma, of building a temple for Krishna. Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami, he engaged all of his activities in the service of the Lord. And one activity mentioned here in the purport is the construction of temples. Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami was actually instrumental in acquiring the land and building the most important temples in ISKCON in India, in Bombay, in Mayapur, and in Vrindavan, and in the Western world, right here in Houston. But not only did he engage his own energies in the service of the Lord, but he taught others to do the same, and he engaged others in the same activity of building a temple for Krishna, performing the services for the deities in the temple, and so on. And still, the same work continues. So, we should all continue in the same spirit of devotional service of working but giving the fruits of our work to the service of Krishna.

The Vedas give two Sanskrit words: brahmana and kṛpaṇa. Brahmana means one who knows Brahman, Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. And of course, the Supreme Brahman is Krishna. So, brahmana is one who dedicates his life for the service of the Supreme Brahman, Krishna. And kṛpaṇa means miser. A miser is someone who has a valuable asset but he holds on to it. He doesn’t want to use it for any real benefit. And the Vedas describe that the human form of life is the most valuable asset, and the human form of life is meant to be used in the service of the Lord for self-realization, so that the living entity can get out of the miseries of material existence and return to the spiritual kingdom of God, Krishna. So, one who does not know the purpose of life or one who does not utilize the valuable human form of life for the supreme purpose of devotional service so that one can go back to Godhead, he is considered a miser. So, we should not be misers. We should use our human form of life and the fruits of our work for the service of Krishna. Then, we will do some real good for the suffering humanity and for ourselves. We will actually do the best good for our own selves.

PURPORT (continued)

The word mat-paramaḥ refers to one who considers the association of Kṛṣṇa in His supreme abode to be the highest perfection of life. Such a person does not wish to be elevated to the higher planets such as the moon or sun or heavenly planets, or even the highest planet of this universe, Brahmaloka. He has no attraction for that. He is only attracted to being transferred to the spiritual sky. And even in the spiritual sky he is not satisfied with merging into the glowing brahma-jyotir effulgence, for he wants to enter the highest spiritual planet, namely Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana. He has full knowledge of that planet, and therefore he is not interested in any other.

COMMENT

So, there are so many planets within the material world. There are actually fourteen planetary systems, and the earth is considered to be toward the middle but a little on the lower side. But the devotee is not interested in elevation even to higher planets, nor is he interested in merging into the impersonal brahman effulgence. But he wants only to serve Krishna in the Krishnaloka planet. And as Srila Prabhupada says, he has knowledge of the planet and his only goal is the planet of Krishnaloka. Here, I think of one course that His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami taught in Vrindavan on one scripture called Brahma-saṁhitā. Brahma-saṁhitā is actually written by Lord Brahma himself, and it contains all the essential truths of Vaishnava philosophy. So, Srila Tamal Krishna Gosvami taught a course on Brahma-saṁhitā, and he actually wrote a commentary on Brahma-saṁhitā, which is really all about the supreme planet of Krishnaloka and how to get there. The book is destined to be published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust so that we can share in some of the knowledge that Tamal Krishna Goswami gathered from the scriptures and that he made the goal of his life.

Every year, as much as possible, he would go to Vrindavan on this planet, earthly Vrindavan, because the earthly Vrindavan is considered the best place or one of the best places to practice devotional service. And by serving Krishna in the earthly Vrindavan and thinking of Krishna in the earthly Vrindavan, one becomes eligible to serve Krishna in the other Vrindavan in the spiritual sky. So, Tamal Krishna Goswami had deep knowledge of Vrindavan, he recorded knowledge of Vrindavan, and especially in his commentary on Brahma-saṁhitā, and he made Vrindavan the goal of his life. And by his life, he achieved that goal.

PURPORT (continued)

As indicated by the word mad-bhaktaḥ, he fully engages in devotional service, specifically in the nine processes of devotional engagement: hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering prayers, carrying out the orders of the Lord, making friends with Him, and surrendering everything to Him. One can engage in all nine devotional processes, or eight, or seven, or at least in one, and that will surely make one perfect.

COMMENT

Well, Tamal Krishna Goswami certainly engaged in all nine. He was always engaged in devotional service to Krishna, but because of lack of time, I won’t give examples. But anyone who knew him, even a little, knows that he was always engaged in one or the other, and at different times in each of the others. Now, here is an important point we come to.

PURPORT (continued)

A devotee of Kṛṣṇa is friendly to everyone. Therefore it is said here that he has no enemy (nirvairaḥ). How is this? A devotee situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness knows that only devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can relieve a person from all the problems of life. He has personal experience of this, and therefore he wants to introduce this system, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, into human society. There are many examples in history of devotees of the Lord who risked their lives for the spreading of God consciousness. The favorite example is Lord Jesus Christ. He was crucified by the nondevotees, but he sacrificed his life for spreading God consciousness. Of course, it would be superficial to understand that he was killed.

COMMENT

So, Jesus Christ is the favorite example, especially in the Western world, of someone who gave his life for God consciousness. That is the real definition of a friend. A friend is someone who directs people to Krishna as one’s true friend, not someone who falsely poses to be one’s friend himself. Because what can we do for another person? We may want to be someone’s friend, but what can we actually do? But if we direct them to Krishna and tell them that Krishna is their best friend, and He can know them better than anyone else, He can help them better than anyone else, He can love them better than anyone else. And such a person who directs others to Krishna is the best friend and the true friend.

The verse actually says, nirvairaḥ, which means without enemies. And elsewhere, Srila Prabhupada comments on the word to mean that a devotee does not feel inimical towards anyone. Someone may become inimical to a devotee out of envy, but the devotee never becomes the enemy of his enemy. He is always the friend of his enemy because he always wishes that his enemies just become Krishna conscious. And Srila Prabhupada would often quote Chanakya Pandit, who said that there are two types of envious creatures. One is the serpent, and the other is the envious human being. But of the two, the envious human being is more dangerous because the serpent can be pacified by herbs and mantras, but an envious man can never be pacified by any means. And therefore, we find even pure devotees like Srila Prabhupada had enemies in the sense that people were envious of him and acted inimically toward him. But he was never the enemy of his enemy. He never wished ill of his enemy. He always wished that all souls became Krishna conscious.

So we cannot expect that in the material world, in the world of duality, one will have no enemies because the world is such that there are always friends and enemies. But the purport of the word is that the devotee is the friend of everyone because he just wants everyone to become Krishna conscious. And if someone becomes his enemy out of envy, he doesn’t become the enemy of his enemy. He is always the friend of his enemy, and he always wishes them well, which is that they just become Krishna conscious. So, like Jesus Christ and Srila Prabhupada, following in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada, Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami also dedicated his life to introduce the system of Krishna consciousness within the human society for the benefit of all living entity.

PURPORT (continued)

The favorite example is Lord Jesus Christ. He was crucified by the nondevotees, but he sacrificed his life for spreading God consciousness. Of course, it would be superficial to understand that he was killed. Similarly, in India also there are many examples, such as Ṭhākura Haridāsa and Prahlāda Mahārāja. Why such risk? Because they wanted to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and it is difficult. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person knows that if a man is suffering it is due to his forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, the highest benefit one can render to human society is relieving one’s neighbor from all material problems. In such a way, a pure devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord. Now, we can imagine how merciful Kṛṣṇa is to those engaged in His service, risking everything for Him. Therefore it is certain that such persons must reach the supreme planet after leaving the body. 

COMMENT

So, Srila Gurudeva certainly took all risks to spread Krishna consciousness. From the earliest days of the Krishna consciousness in the West, he was the pioneer. He brought Krishna consciousness to new places, and he presented Krishna consciousness in novel ways. Although he took so many risks, I always think of the China mission as the best example. When Srila Gurudeva went to China, sometimes the authorities discovered him, took him to jail, and he took all sorts of risks to spread Krishna consciousness. Even in his service in the academy, he took risks because to do the service properly, he had to associate with worldly people. We didn’t get to read it in the purport, but one of the items in the verse is, saṅga-varjitaḥ, which means he gives up the association of non-devotees. But unless we associate with non-devotees, how can we touch them? How can we influence them? How can we bring them to Krishna consciousness? So, to associate with them is also a type of risk. But unless we take such risks, how can we spread Krishna consciousness? So, Srila Gurudeva always took risks to spread Krishna consciousness. He risked his life by going into China, and he took risks even going into the academy and dealing with worldly people who are very intelligent and very knowledgeable. But even in their presence, he always remained fixed in Krishna consciousness. He always remained fixed in his mission of bringing others to Krishna. And therefore, as Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport, ‘We can imagine how merciful Krishna is to those engaged in his service, risking everything for him. Therefore, it is certain that such persons must reach the supreme planet after leaving the body.’ So we are convinced that Srila Gurudeva has reached the supreme planet of Krishnaloka in the spiritual world. And we are convinced that any people who come in touch with his teachings, with his mission, with his service, with his example, who follow his example, will achieve the same perfection, that the highest perfection of going back home, back to Godhead.

So as Srila Prabhupada wrote in his inscription to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of his own spiritual master, he lives forever by his divine instructions, and the follower lives with him. So Srila Prabhupada lived eternally with his spiritual master by following his master’s instructions. Srila Gurudeva lived eternally with his spiritual master by following his master’s instructions. And similarly, we also can live eternally with Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada and the entire paramparā by following their instructions. So there is no need to lament the physical departure. We know that Srila Gurudeva has gone to Prabhupada and Krishna, and that we can have his association eternally by following his instructions, following his example, and serving his mission.

So, I don’t have much time, but maybe one, question or comment? Yes, sir.

Devotee: I just want to know about the academy we talked about.

Giriraj Swami: Oh, academy. Well, academy is a word that means the academic community, the university.

Devotee: So what is the great danger, the dangerous mission for them to go to academy? You said something like that.

Giriraj Swami: I did say it, you are right. Well, the danger is that in the academy, one will come into dialogue with very powerful materialistic people, some of whom are determined to break people’s faith in God. They think that people’s faith in God is just a sentiment, a superstition, a symptom of weakness, psychological weakness or intellectual weakness. And frankly speaking, Srila Gurudeva’s own head of department at SMU was. . . well, anyway. So in order to distinguish himself in the academic world and to help people understand Srila Prabhupada and Krishna consciousness, you have to enter into dialogue with such people. And, if a weak devotee comes in touch with a powerful materialist, and these people are very brilliant scholars, and educated and articulate and eloquent, they can be influenced. Their faith can be shaken or broken. And it so happens that Srila Gurudeva’s mentor at SMU, I think it is sort of an open secret, that he himself was a believer when he entered the academy. But when he went through the process of critically analyzing one’s faith or one’s beliefs, he became a non-believer. And he subjected Srila Gurudeva to the same process that converted him from being a believer into a non-believer. But Srila Gurudeva took the risk and actually entered into dialogue with such powerful atheists. But he always remained faithful to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna consciousness.

Devotee: But why do you call them powerful? Your attitude is something that is so. . . [Unintelligible 00:45:45]. I would suggest that you do not call them powerful.

Giriraj Swami: Well, they are only powerful to people who come under their power. But compared to Gurudeva and staunch devotees like you, they are not powerful. So when I use the word “powerful,” I don’t mean in relation to you or Srila Gurudeva. I mean in relation to ordinary people.

Devotee: Not intellectuals, those people. And they contradict themselves. And even though God has served mankind for thousands of years, they say that God is useless. But if He is useless them,  why does man believe in God for thousands of years, right? It is a basic thing. But if they don’t want to even believe in basic facts, then how can you say that  they are scientific. They are not scientific, because they do not even believe in the basic facts.

Giriraj Swami: I agree with you, I surrender. The Bhāgavatam says that in Kali-yuga, the false teachers will seem to be prominent, but when the sun of Lord Chaitanya’s movement rises, they are just like fireflies that disappear in the presence of the sun.

Devotee: Many times they try to use all these big words to impress people, all the high-sounding phrases. But if you look at it, because of me, but you read two pages, you don’t know what he is talking about.

Giriraj Swami: You have seen through the whole facade. So you are the fit person to carry forward the message of Krishna consciousness. Yes.

Devotee: Maharaja, you said that devotees should not see enmity even towards their enemies. And if someone, say for example, rationalizes the devotees and the process they are following, you feel like, automatically the enmity comes again towards that person and we feel like people are death. Sometimes, we really can’t stop thinking that person is really envious person and don’t feel like talking to them, because they talk against the devotees and they don’t like the process that the devotees does, whatever they are doing. So how do we have the enmity or should we. . . a bit confused?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. What is your name?

Devotee: Laal.

Giriraj Swami: So Laal says that if someone blasphemes the devotees or the process of Krishna consciousness, we feel angry and we don’t want to see the person.

Well, as devotees, we should feel angry. If we can defeat them in an argument, we should defeat them. Or else, we should just leave them. So your response is proper. But when you are not with the person, still you can pray that he will become Krishna conscious. According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one should make friends with devotees, prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā, one should give one’s love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should make friendship with the devotees, one should show mercy to the innocent by giving them Krishna consciousness, and one should neglect or avoid the envious. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura remarks that to neglect the envious is not a lack of mercy on the part of the devotee, but it is actually the devotee’s mercy. Because if he tries to preach to the envious person, the envious person will just become more inimical, which will be bad for him. So therefore, the proper treatment for the envious is to neglect them. But even while neglecting the envious, one can pray for their deliverance. And the example is Prahlada Maharaja. He didn’t associate intimately with Hiraṇyakaśipu, even though Hiraṇyakaśipu was his own father, because his father was a demon. So he neglected his father, but still he prayed for him. And we also find in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Prahlada prays, “May all envious people be pacified. May all envious people in the whole universe be pacified by Krishna consciousness.” So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that that is proper behavior for a devotee, that he avoids the envious so as not to create further agitation, but still he can pray for their benefit, and that enhances his saintly qualities. But otherwise, your response is natural and appropriate. Mahaprabhu dasa.

Devotee: Maharaja, I have question to ask you because people ask questions and I am not able to answer, so I am asking questions. Let me say, nine types of bhakti and surrender to Krishna, and finally going to serving Krishna, we go to Krishnaloka. And 99 percent people, they serve the poor people, philanthropy work. If they have faith in that Krishna, then they would like to serve Krishna. So what is the proof by serving Krishna, we will get some advantage, whereas we serve with the society, we get recognition. And that is why people don’t want to surrender to Krishna. So how we can we convince them that there is something like Krishnaloka and you have to do this type of thing, and finding the result will be like this? I just put it in. So it is very difficult to convince them. So how to talk to these people?

Giriraj Swami: Well, to convince someone about Krishnaloka is not the first step. I mean, we begin to help them understand you are not the body. I mean, the present audiences have had association, and they already have some knowledge. But we don’t go straight to Krishnaloka. We begin, you are not the body. You are spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit Soul. And then we gradually tell them about Krishna. And then after they understand Krishna, then we can explain that Krishna has His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His abode, and they are all spiritual. They are on the same absolute platform as Krishna Himself. So that comes later. But once a reporter asked Srila Prabhupada that, “You are doing everything for Krishna. You are working for Krishna, you are speaking about Krishna, you are eating food offered to Krishna, and everything for Krishna. But what if in the end, what if there is no Krishna? Then what?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Even if there is no Krishna, I would still do the same thing because I like to chant Hare Krishna. I like to read Bhagavad-gītā. I like to associate with Krishna’s devotees. I like to take Krishna prasāda.”

So our process, in and of itself, is very pleasing, kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa. it is very pleasing. So it is not that you have to wait until you reach Krishnaloka to experience the benefit of Krishna consciousness. I think every devotee has experienced the benefit of Krishna consciousness even in the present lifetime. And as far as recognition, yes, a conditioned soul may want recognition for his service. So we are also prepared to give recognition. If he wants to give five thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars, fifty thousand, hundred thousand, we will recognize him. We are not envious. We give credit where credit is due. [laughter] We give them all the recognition they deserve. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:56:22] Now the second point to that one. Yes, you are not going to be the kind heart because you have more understanding that you give that we have compared. That might be. [Unintelligible 00:57:25]

Giriraj Swami: That is a good question. He says that the heart is very small, so either you have Krishna in your heart or you have anger in your heart. You can’t have both. So if you become angry with someone because he disagrees with you and you think you know more than him, then you can’t have Krishna in your heart.

Now the first point is that there are two types of anger. There is material anger and spiritual anger. Now, material anger arises when one’s personal desires are frustrated. Like Bhagavad-gītā says, from lust comes anger. So when you have material lust and your lust is frustrated, then you become angry. But there is also spiritual desire. That is the difference between personalism and impersonalism. We also have spiritual desires to become Krishna conscious and to spread Krishna consciousness. And when there is some obstruction to Krishna consciousness, the devotee may become transcendentally angry in order to remove the obstruction.

Once, after the first Delhi pandal, one young man, maybe American, who was in Delhi, came to Srila Prabhupada and he gave a very eloquent glorification of Krishna consciousness without much knowledge, saying that if everyone becomes Krishna conscious, then there will be only love in the world and there will be no more anger. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Oh, no more anger? Is there something wrong with anger?” And then he proceeded to explain that Krishna spoke the whole Bhagavad-gītā just to make Arjuna angry because He wanted Arjuna to fight and kill. And you can’t fight and kill someone unless you are angry. So he said, “Krishna spoke the whole Bhagavad-gītā just to make Arjuna angry, but that anger was transcendental anger to remove the obstacles to Krishna consciousness, to Krishna’s will. That was not material anger that arises out of material frustration.”

So if a neophyte devotee has some false ego that “I know more than others,” and then if someone disagrees with him and argues with him, and he can’t convince the person, and he becomes angry because he is frustrated that he couldn’t maintain his position of superiority, then his anger may not purely be spiritual. It may be mixed with material anger. And therefore, we should be introspective. If we become angry, we should see “Am I really becoming angry because he is blaspheming the devotees? Or am I becoming angry because I wanted to enjoy some results? I wanted to enjoy the prestige of defeating the person? Or I wanted to enjoy some gross or subtle result?” And if I am angry because I am frustrated because my personal desire was baffled by his disagreement, then I have to think, “Well, I have to become more tolerant. I have to purify myself and become more tolerant.”

And the other thing is that even if one feels anger internally, spiritual anger internally, it may not always be the best thing to express the anger because it might make the situation worse. And I will end with one little anecdote about Tamal Krishna Goswami. Srila Prabhupada entered an agreement to purchase some land in Juhu, Bombay, to build a temple there. And the landlord actually tried to cheat Srila Prabhupada. So Tamal Krishna Goswami and I were dealing with the legal case, and we went to the landlord’s lawyer’s office with one of our lawyers to try to come to a settlement. And at a certain stage, Goswami Maharaja understood that the other side was not going to be reasonable, that they were intent on cheating. They weren’t going to compromise because Srila Prabhupada’s position was very simple: either give us the land or give us our money back. And we took the same position, but they wanted to swallow the money and keep the land. So at a certain point, I mean, it was all a bit over my head because I was more naive, but at a certain point, Tamal Krishna Goswami understood that they are out to keep the money and the land and that they weren’t going to compromise in any way. So I could see that he suddenly stood up and he said, “Thank you very much. We will consider what you said.” He just walked out of the office, and I could see he was very angry. But if he would have started shouting at them and saying, “You are this, you are that,” it would have made the situation worse. So a devotee who is in control of his senses, even if he is angry inside and even if the anger is justified spiritually, he doesn’t always express it openly because it might make the situation worse for Krishna’s service. But sometimes he does work to express it.

And maybe this will be the last part of the last anecdote. Tamal Krishna Goswami made an appointment with a rich man in Bombay named Mr. Bhatia. And at the time, there were very few high-rise apartments in Bombay. But he lived on the 16th or 18th floor, on the top of one of the first and only high-rise apartments in Bombay, a very posh flat. And Goswami Maharaja made a presentation and tried to enroll him as a life member, and he refused. And at a certain point, Gosvami Maharaja became angry because there was no reason why he shouldn’t have become a life member. There was no good reason. He had plenty of money, our cause was just, and there was no good reason. So he became angry. So he put away all the books and other paraphernalia in the briefcase, and he said, “You know, Mr. Bhatia, I am glad you didn’t become a life member because we don’t want people like you as life members.” And he was angry but controlled, and he just walked out of Mr. Bhatia’s posh apartment and stood in front of the lift waiting for the lift to come. And Mr. Bhatia came running after him. He said, “No, no, Swamiji, no Swamiji, I want to become your life member. Please come back, please come back.” He became a life member. So transcendental anger usually brings good results.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Srila Gurudeva ki jaya!

Devotee: His Holiness Giriraj Swami ki jaya!