CC Adi 3 – Evening Class

Giriraj Swami: Well, my thought for the evening, a continuation from the afternoon, is that the essence of Krishna consciousness is love, and that from the angle of logic and argument, one could debate so many points in the scripture. But ultimately, if I love Srila Prabhupada, and out of my love for him, I want to accept his version, then I am as justified in my conclusion or decision as anyone else. And Srila Prabhupada, in his turn, accepts the Vedic scriptures, out of his love for his spiritual master and Krishna, and that’s our line, and that’s our choice.

And of course, the other side is to judge by the results. I used to watch over the years, or observe over the years that the devotees who had more faith were happier, and they were making more progress. So, I used to think, What’s the point of harboring doubts? Of course, the Bhāgavatam also says that doubt is one of the functions of intelligence. So, that is also there. But in the purport, Srila Prabhupada says that, yes, doubt is one of the functions of intelligence, but when one comes to the right authority, then to doubt the right authority is not very good.

So, people might say that, as Prabhupada always described, the jnanis think that the bhaktas are sentimentalists and they are always counterparts of jnanis in every culture. But I really think, ultimately, it’s the matter of love. And that’s what everyone wants – love. And we have spiritual love between the spiritual master and the disciples, Srila Prabhupada, and ultimately, between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the devotees. And I think that’s my main thought for the day.

And then I thought about speakers like yourself, preachers like yourself, that what really attracts people to hear you speak is your love for Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and your genuine care for the audience, and that is a much more important consideration than how many verses you know or how logically you can put together the lecture, which is not to say that you are not qualified as a speaker from the material point of view, but the main thing is the love, the genuine care for the audience, and the appreciation for the devotees, and that’s what draws people to the speaker, or the preacher.

And that’s encouraging because not everyone may be a great orator from the material point of view, a great logician, or a great scholar, but if he is a pure hearted devotee, or simple-hearted devotee that has genuine love for his spiritual master, and Krishna, and devotees, even ordinary people who come, then he can appeal to them, touch their hearts.

So, I guess that’s the answer to your first question. Before you begin to speak, you don’t know why you’ve been asked to speak. That’s our reply.