SB 3.23.24 – The Duty of a Disciple

Giriraj Swami: Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Three, Chapter Twenty-three,

TEXT 24

sā tad bhartuḥ samādāya
vacaḥ kuvalayekṣaṇā
sarajaṁ bibhratī vāso
veṇī-bhūtāṁś ca mūrdhajān

TRANSLATION

The lotus-eyed Devahūti accepted the order of her husband. Because of her dirty dress and the locks of matted hair on her head, she did not look very attractive.

PURPORT

It appears that Devahūti’s hair had remained uncombed for many years and had become complicated in tangles. In other words, she neglected her bodily dress and comforts to engage in the service of her husband.

COMMENT

The Fifth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam states that no one should become a father, no one should become a mother, no one should become a husband, no one should become a guru, no one should become a superior relative unless he or she can deliver his or her dependents from the repetition of birth and death. So there is a great responsibility in being a father or a mother or a guru or a husband or any authority especially spiritual authority and the responsibility is to deliver one’s dependents, one’s subordinates from the repetition of birth and death. Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport to the verse that one can be liberated from the repetition of birth and death only when one becomes a pure devotee and therefore the duty of the husband and parents and teachers is to teach the dependents how to execute devotional service and to show the dependents how to execute devotional service by personal example. So when the husband or the parent or the teacher or the superior authority takes such responsibility, the dependent or the subordinate also has a responsibility, which is to serve the superior or to execute the orders of the superior. And here Kardama Muni played the role of a responsible husband and at the same time Devahuti played the role of a dependent wife. The same principle applies whether it is between husband and wife, parents and children, teacher and students and so on. In the modern world people are unaware of their responsibilities. The husbands, the parents, the teachers and the rulers are often very irresponsible. At best they may take some responsibility for the material welfare of their dependents, but even then the superior authority now in the material world are so selfish they hardly care even for the material welfare of their dependents in many cases and most of them have no idea of the spiritual value of life and they therefore neglect the most important duty of providing the knowledge and example to deliver their dependent relatives from the repetition of birth and death. 

Srila Prabhupada has emphasized the duty of the disciple to execute the order of the spiritual master. Devahuti executed the order of her husband and here we find the same thing in the present verse, samādāya vacaḥ, she accepted the order or the words and that is our duty. 

Probably many of us have seen videos or heard audiotapes of Srila Prabhupada right here in Los Angeles emphasizing the order of the spiritual master. He often said that the secret of his success was that he followed the order of his spiritual master. His spiritual master ordered him that, “If you ever get money print books.” And Srila Prabhupada took the instruction deep within his heart and when the opportunity came he did print books and by disciplic succession the same order from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to Srila Prabhupada has come to us. Srila Prabhupada had very little personal association with his guru maharaja. He met him only on few occasions and then just for a week or two, but Srila Prabhupada listened to the words, vacaḥ. We heard the story of how Srila Prabhupada joined his guru maharaja on Vraja-mandala parikramā and almost on the last day one of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrothers came around to the disciples and said that they were going on parikramā to visit one of the holy places in Vraja-dhama and almost all of the other disciples were very eager and yes they went on parikramā and of course parikramā is recommended. But Srila Prabhupada thought, “Let me sit at the lotus feet of my spiritual master and hear his words.” And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura so much appreciated the quality in Srila Prabhupada that he liked to hear. Others would go away but he would stay and he would hear, and later when the group came back from the parikramā, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura remarked sarcastically, “Did you enjoy your eye exercise? You went to exercise your eyes by looking at the deities when you could have been hearing the words, vacaḥ from the spiritual master. 

So that was Srila Prabhupada’s qualification that he heard and later he commented that because he heard nicely later he could speak nicely because in the spiritual process we hear and then we repeat what we have heard, that is śravaṇa-kīrtanam, we hear and then we repeat what we have heard. We don’t manufacture or concoct any new philosophy out of our own futile brains or imaginations but we hear and we repeat what we have heard. At the same time we must follow the orders of the spiritual master to chant, in the case of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples and followers, to chant sixteen rounds and follow the regulative principles because one may repeat like a parrot but the repetition of the parrot will not have the potency to influence the audience. To have the potency to influence the audience we must adhere to a certain standard of purity and Srila Prabhupada has assured us that if we chant sixteen rounds and follow the regulative principles we will get the strength and potency to present the message of Krishna consciousness and influence the audience to become devotees. So we do both. We follow the instructions and we repeat the instructions and when we do both, our words have potency. 

Srila Prabhupada often explained why he translated Bhagavad-gītā when there were already so many other translations- that in almost every other translation the translator tried to put his own ideas in the guise of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Srila Prabhupada saw the need to present Bhagavad-gītā As It Is without any adulteration or interpretation or compromise and Srila Prabhupada remarked that although there were so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā even in English the result of the other translations was not there in the sense that nobody became devotees from the other translations. But when Srila Prabhupada presented Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and he himself followed the principles of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, so many people became devotees and even today so many people are becoming devotees by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. We meet people who tell us how they came to Krishna consciousness and so many of them became devotees just by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. 

Once in India a very prominent businessman named Rama Krishna Bajaj. Some of you who have been to India might know about Bajaj scooters and Bajaj fans and Bajaj light bulbs. So he actually formed a conference for Gita Pratisthan for the preaching of Bhagavad-gītā and he wanted Srila Prabhupada to come because Srila Prabhupada is the foremost preacher of Bhagavad-gītā in the whole world. But Srila Prabhupada did not want to come because the purpose of the conference was to discuss how to preach the message of Bhagavad-gītā and Srila Prabhupada’s concern was that different people at the conference would have different ideas of what the message of Bhagavad-gītā is. So he thought what is the point? But Mr. Bajaj was very insistent. He just really insisted that Srila Prabhupada come but Srila Prabhupada didn’t want to come because he would be meeting, I mean in plain language, he would be meeting with Mayavadis who want to preach Bhagavad-gītā with the idea that people should become Krishna, merge and become one with God. So he didn’t want to come and he deputed me to go on his behalf and he wrote me one letter saying that we have to insist on the point of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, that people should not use the words of Krishna to make money simply or to promote their own philosophies and he gave a peculiar example perhaps that a man is smoking ganja which means what does ganja mean? Marijuana, so the police burst into the room and when they come in his friend is holding the pipe, so the person says to the police, “You know I am innocent, I am innocent he is holding the pipe I am not holding the pipe.” So Srila Prabhupada said that is what the people who interpret the Gītā do. They are actually engaging in their own nefarious activities promoting their own peculiar philosophies but they say I am not saying it, Krishna is saying it like my hands are clean, see I am not holding the pipe. It is Krishna. They want to actually blame Krishna for their philosophy. Of course one could say that Srila Prabhupada also blame Krishna but he didn’t. He wasn’t using Krishna to promote his own philosophy. He is genuinely presenting Krishna’s philosophy and he wasn’t blaming Krishna. He was giving the credit to Krishna. 

So then Mr. Bajaj continued his assaults on Srila Prabhupada’s determination and he came in person when Srila Prabhupada came back to Juhu. He came in person and begged him to come and Srila Prabhupada agreed. So we all went to Varda, the venue of the conference was in Varda, which is near Nagpur in the center of India actually, in Maharashtra, and the way Srila Prabhupada dealt with the conference was extraordinary. 

The Bajaj family was sort of followers of (Vinoba Bhave?) who was a great freedom fighter and actually Rama Krishna Bajaj’s father, (Jamanlal?) Bajaj was the treasurer of Mahatma Gandhi. He was treasurer in the freedom movement and every day we would take prasāda on the veranda of a house where Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sadaival Patel and Jamanlal Bajaj, they all took prasāda and Prabhupada sat and had prasāda with us. So anyway the big day came and everyone went to the (ponar?) ashram of the (Vinoba Bhave?) and different speakers spoke and you know Prabhupada spoke towards the end. Usually they would keep him towards the end out of respect because he was the senior most. And his basic premise was very clear and simple. The first point is that Krishna preached the Bhagavad-gītā to tell people to become devotees, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto; and how do people become devotees? They become devotees by chanting Hare Krishna, harer nāmaiva kevalam. Therefore those who want to preach the message of Bhagavad-gītā should propagate the chanting of the holy names of the Lord because that will fulfill the purpose of Bhagavad-gītā. And then Srila Prabhupada took out his karatāls and began to chant Hare Krishna which really infused the meeting with spiritual energy specially after so many impersonal speculations and you know, wasn’t quite in the schedule and Prabhupada certainly didn’t take anyone’s permission and he didn’t need to but still he was very tactful and just before they could become impatient, you know how long is the chanting going to keep going, he stopped it and that was the end. So that was certainly dramatic and after all the speakers had spoken, the last day there was going to be like a meeting of the invitees to discuss practically how to preach the message of Bhagavad-gītā and they didn’t invite Srila Prabhupada. You know, Srila Prabhupada let some time pass and he thought whatever. They probably thought he was too aged and too ailing they didn’t want to bother him but actually he said that, “They don’t want to invite me because he knows I disagree with them.”

So he let them meet for a while and then he walked in on the meeting and sat down. And you know because everyone had to pay attention because he was the preacher of Bhagavad-gītā in the world and from every other point of view, from age, from learning, from success he was the leader. So there he stuck to one point only, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam, unless you are in the disciplic succession you cannot preach Bhagavad-gītā and of course no one really could say anything and Mr. Bajaj kept saying, “Let’s get some practical proposals.” You know like they wanted to come out with the list of resolutions, what the committee decided how to preach the message of Bhagavad-gītā and Prabhupada looked at Mr. Bajaj and he said, “Who is going to listen to you? You are just a business man.” And he was like so heavy and I guess in the end they managed to get a few resolutions on paper and but I mean Prabhupada really was bold and forceful, very powerful. So afterwards Prabhupada commented that he had injected the poison, meaning really the nectar but as a sort of poetic device, he said we have injected the poison and now it will act. Now one other thing about Srila Prabhupada is that he was very polite and very tactful and although he would disagree in the debate but he would be very cordial in personal dealings. So the way it worked out we were all going to fly together from Nagpur to Bombay, Srila Prabhupada and Mr. Bajaj and Prabhupada’s secretary and I got to come along although usually we travel by train but somehow I got to come along. So on the flight I said to Mr. Bajaj, I mentioned to Mr. Bajaj that Srila Prabhupada said that you know we have injected our poison and it will act and when I said that Prabhupada turned around and gave me such a glare like you weren’t supposed to say that to Mr. Bajaj. That was just among us. Anyway that was my contribution. (Laughter). But anyway Prabhupada didn’t dwell on it, I dwelled on it but Prabhupada didn’t dwell on it but because Prabhupada was so special Mr. Bajaj did remain friendly even after Prabhupada took such a strong position and later he gave quite a large donation to Srila Prabhupada. 

So vacaḥ, like Śrī-bhagavān uvāca, vacaḥ the words, you have to accept the words as they are, you have to follow them as they are and we have to repeat them as they are and that was Srila Prabhupada’s contribution and example for us and although Srila Prabhupada warned us through the example of the Gaudiya Math about what can happen when the disciple disobey the spiritual master but at least Srila Prabhupada’s disciples and followers, at least enough of them have followed his instructions both in terms of their personal spiritual practices and in terms of the methods of propagating Krishna consciousness, book distribution and other methods, that the movement is intact. It is continuing and progressing. So we pray that we can continue to accept Srila Prabhupada’s words as they are and follow them specially chanting sixteen rounds and following the four principles and then working cooperatively to spread the message as it is. Hare Krishna! So there is about five minutes. Yes Svavasa Prabhu?

Svavasa Prabhu: You know repeating the words without addition or subtractions. So my question is what is the level of realization, in other words you can read something in Srila Prabhupada’s books and then maybe we are put in a position where we have to give our realizations and they may not be exact. They may not be what Srila Prabhupada said exactly. They may not be on the level of Srila Prabhupada or what he said. So what to do? How to respect that or understand that? You know sometimes in an audience even, you may be speaking- some people have some different understanding of what you are saying. In other words, you may be saying something it goes in their brain but somehow or other something happens in here and when they try to repeat what you said it is completely different. So what is this –what do you do with that?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we have to present the message as it is but as Srila Prabhupada himself writes in one purport in the First Canto that when the preacher has some realizations he will present the basic message but he will present it in a language and with examples that are interesting to the audience and are also understandable to the audience and Srila Prabhupada said that the reason people like his purports was that he presented the same philosophy but he added his own examples from his own realizations and therefore people appreciated his purports. So Srila Prabhupada also emphasized that we should preach according to our realization. Now anyone who is in Krishna consciousness specially if they are chanting sixteen rounds and following the four principles has some realization and Srila Prabhupada said if your realization is just that by chanting Hare Krishna I feel good, I feel better, I feel happier, I can function better and if you repeat that realization however simple that realization is it will have effect on people’s hearts. Yes we don’t have to stick to the same language certainly. Srila Prabhupada used many new examples and used a different type of language than Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Somehow I think of the early days when Srila Prabhupada first came to the West and he was speaking to people who had no idea of Krishna consciousness at all, no idea of Vedic culture. 

Once, this is very interesting because in the beginning of course as you know when Srila Prabhupada first came to New York city he would walk or at most he would take the bus but then after some devotees began to join him and assist him he would take a taxi now and then and the taxi drivers were curious about who Srila Prabhupada was and what his mission was, what his message was. So one taxi driver asked him like, you know, what is the difference between you and Maharishi and Srila Prabhupada said, using very simple language but in very deep realization, that, “Our goal is the same but his method is difficult but my method is easy.” And another taxi driver, I don’t know if it was the same but anyway a taxi driver also asked him, “What is a swami? What does swami mean? So Srila Prabhupada said, “Swami means that you can be in a room full of naked women and not become disturbed.” Now you won’t find that definition of swami in any book. That was Prabhupada’s way of presenting it in a language that the taxi driver could understand. 

But there is a risk specially Prabhupada used to complain in India that the Indians have so many preconceptions that it was harder for them to understand Bhagavad-gītā As It Is than others and I remember once we had a program in Madras, it was before Prabhupada came but Achyutananda Swami was there and he gave a very nice talk. It was a very glamorous program, very elite and aristocratic people. And Madras is full of Mayavadis as I have mentioned before and after the lecture, I couldn’t believe it. One of the distinguished guests of the aristocratic gathering came up to Achyutananda Swami and said, “As you said in your lecture we are all one. . .” Now that is not what he said in his lecture. He had so much in his head, that is what he heard. So there is that possibility, there is always that possibility but if we are sincerely like chanting sixteen rounds and following the regulative principles even if our heads are full of different things which all of our heads have been, our consciousness will become purified, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, then we will be able to hear the message as it is and repeat it as it is.

Brigupati Prabhu: How do we deal with words that seem to be contradictory or controversial. I will give you an example. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in the section Prabhupada is talking about the ten offenses he refers to the first offense of offending one who has dedicated one’s life to preaching as the greatest offense and then in the same purport just a couple of paragraphs down from that he refers to committing sin on the strength of chanting as the worst offense. So you have two superlatives there, you know, it is not a big point but obviously it is contradictory. There can’t be two things being superlatives– and another thing that is controversial is that Prabhupada, on many different occasions, said that the moon is farther away than the sun and so that is controversial. How do we relate to that, how do we present that?

Giriraj Swami: In terms of superlatives, on the absolute platform everything is superlative. You know if you study Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta and the journey of Gopa Kumar, wherever he went he saw the worship as superlative, he saw the service as superlative and that is actually how one feels on the spiritual platform. It is not an intellectual judgment but it is a sentiment. So like there is one purport where the verse talks about the level of the gopīs but it was specifically about Mother Yasoda and in the purport Srila Prabhupada says that it appears that no one has greater love for Krishna than Mother Yasoda but then we read in so many places, no one has greater love for Krishna than the damsels of Vrindavan and the leader is Srimati Radharani. So that is like—I will just use my own example, on my level, talking about speaking according to your realization, you know, I could go to a life member’s house and really liked the prasāda and say this is the best prasāda I have ever had and then sometimes later go to another life member’s house and have another fantastic meal and say that is the best prasāda I have ever had. I am not flattering them. That is actually the sentiment at the moment and someone could say well how they could both be superlative but it is not really an intellectual judgment or a material calculation but it is just an expression of appreciation and on the spiritual platform everything is superlative. 

As far as the sun and the moon, you know as preachers representing Srila Prabhupada we present the knowledge that we got from him and he does the same but if you are talking with someone who is really like serious and inquisitive and intelligent you can’t just take a dogmatic position otherwise they will think these people are fanatics, they are fundamentalists. And here I know many devotees have, to say, taken refuge of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura or on support from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura who and again itself could be controversy in fact it is controversial. In the introduction to Sri Krishna Samhita, he describes different categories of seekers and one category whom he calls the Komala sradhis, basically is entering the tradition and he just wants to hear things that will encourage his faith in the tradition. If he hears anything different he will be disturbed and the preacher also shouldn’t say anything different that would disturb him but then the other class which is sort of the intellectual class, and he was preaching to intellectuals, you know the intelligentsia in Bengal then was like quite spectacular and he didn’t want them to reject Krishna consciousness because they perceived it as being dogmatic and therefore in the introduction to Krishna Samhita, again, we are dealing with translations but still it seems to be the idea that we can learn from the West, we can learn from modern science, that the Vedic civilization can be bettered with knowledge from modern science because he was preaching to people who was already convinced about modern science. The way Prabhupada dealt with modern science was very different. He was very different. And I thought about why but I don’t think I could give a definite statement but just in a general sense we could say time, place, and circumstance but here you have Bhaktivinoda Thakura is saying you know we can learn from them. We can improve our knowledge with their help and Prabhupada is saying, “You know they are all rascals. Kick them in their face with boots.” 

So I think that in a public forum we basically have to be faithful to the line that Srila Prabhupada used in public but in dealing with an individual we could be more flexible as Srila Prabhupada himself was more flexible with individuals. Like sometimes I am surprised by some of the things I hear in the Prabhupada memory video series like there was one where Revatinandana Swami was talking and he was saying that Prabhupada said that of course he even mentions that in Caitanya-caritāmṛta but how he mentions that there are many concessions to Smarthas in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa but there Srila Prabhupada even goes a step further and says that and he also says the same thing in other contexts in other ways but basically, saying we don’t even really need deity worship. And I don’t know what Revatinandana Swami said at the time I heard it first I was upset. Somehow my faith was disturbed by what he said and within myself I thought that he shouldn’t have said this in a public interview may Prabhupada said that to him but he shouldn’t have said it in a public interview because that is going to affect devotees’ faith. So what I am saying is that Srila Prabhupada, in public, would always preach in a certain way as to encourage the faith of the new comers but in private discussions he could say things that he wouldn’t say in public for the benefit of the individual. And you know in the old days we have the paradigm of the guru with his ashram and his disciples and he personally instructs each disciple but Prabhupada following Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura promoted a worldwide mission with a large organization and he couldn’t afford to like give individual instructions to each disciple separately so he gave us books and he gave us general principles but as far as things like the sun and the moon, I would say someone who is really disturbed, I don’t know but it is very difficult to say because I heard that Prabhupada himself said that when the Fifth Canto was published some of his disciples will leave because they won’t be able to accept the version of the universe presented there but Prabhupada was faithful to his line and he upheld his line. But I am just going to say something very controversial. When I first heard it, it bothered me the same type of thing bothered me but Harikesh Prabhu told me that he had questioned Srila Prabhupada about something that Prabhupada had said or written about the modern scientists and Harikesh really believed that what Prabhupada had said is not really true as far as the material world go and according to Harikesh Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada replied something like, “I will say any damn thing to discredit the scientists.” There was—anyway it is a whole topic. Now I am starting to feel that I should not say that. May a better example. I think you are the one who told me but another example is you know the theory that man’s brains is bigger than woman’s brain? And even the idea that intelligence is related to the size of the brain sort of been discredited on scientific circles. So someone mentioned that to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada replied, “That is what I heard when I was in college and it was favorable for my preaching so I used it.”

So it is very delicate because we want to be faithful. We want to receive the message as it is and we want to present it as it is but at the same time we don’t want to be dogmatic to the point that intelligent people go away because they are not getting answers to their questions and Srila Prabhupada dealt with difficult questions. In fact this very question on the sun and the moon was answered by Srila Prabhupada in a letter and I could find it and send it to you. Basically what he says is that there are controversies in the Vedic version of the universe in the material world and that we shouldn’t get too caught up in them and that the real thing is to become Krishna conscious and it is very subtle. Basically he says there could be scope for other opinions but—anyway it is too subtle for me to just present to you but you got the sense that Prabhupada, it was coming from a disciple, it was coming from Krishnadasa who done a lot of service for Prabhupada and had some difficulty and he wanted to come back but he had trouble with some parts of the philosophy and basically it is not like you can’t think this. Prabhupada didn’t say that you can’t think this but it was more—you know it is not such a big deal. May be you think it and may be you don’t but it is not such a big deal and the more important thing is to become Krishna conscious. So when you talk about realization, I have no realization, I don’t know if the sun is farther than the moon or the moon is farther than the sun. But if you talk about chanting I have realization, if you talk about following the orders of the spiritual master I have realization and I suppose one approach would be that. I have no realization but this is what the scriptures say we repeat the scriptures but I am not practicing Krishna consciousness because of what the scriptures say about the universe. I am practicing Krishna consciousness because the scriptures tell us how to realize God and by following the directions in the scriptures on how to realize God I feel I am coming closer to God and I am feeling happier in my life and better in my life and that is enough to make me want to follow and we invite you to try it and see how it feels to follow too and if you like it stay with it.

Svavasa Prabhu: That is a very good point that you are just making there that basically to be honest with ourselves how many people really know scientific theory? Hardly anybody really does. If you get into a conversation with such an individual obviously there he has to be so much trained than an ordinary devotee would be that how could we just say ok I believe in the scriptures. And then at the same time you can say that there is a lot of discrepancy in the scientific theory. Drutakarma, in his book, has exposed so many discrepancies, lies, cheaters. These are all documented. Things are always constantly changing. There are theories of creation that are always changing. They are always planning some other specimen that blows the theory of the other specimen. So it seems to me that there are a lot of discrepancies in the scientific theory also. You know we could just turn it back to that point that to say well cheese lot of your theories that were twenty years ago are now so drastically changed. What is your foundation? What is your threshold? What do you have to offer? It is always in a state of cheating propensity. You know when I said that it pretty much stops them on the tract. They don’t want to deal with it. We try to bring them back on that point again but you know—wait a minute.

Giriraj Swami: That is true. I remember one of Srila Prabhupada’s arguments about Veda Vyasa that he had no ulterior motive. He was simply the well-wisher of the people in general. What you said is definitely true that the scientists they cheat, they have their own vested interest in their theories and for their own personal reasons they will take the evidence that suits them for their theory and reject the evidence that doesn’t, and even if they know they are wrong just for their prestige and their own economics, they will keep going on it. So that is a very powerful argument.

Svavasa: We find the economics a big issue specially in that particular field because they are being funded by self-interested groups that want to profess their particular philosophies. They give more money to create what they want to create. So we are finding in America that is a common entity. That exists on all levels. You know who you can? the hardest pay the most money to and that is the answer you will get. Just like many years ago I heard this, you couldn’t get a straight answer in relationship to like cigarette smoke because all these so called researches and scientists were working for the tobacco company. They are being funded by them, they were being told to do all the research on their particular behalf. So I suspect that modern so called scientist, he is being funded by some self-interested group in order to give answers that they want so they could get funded for bigger and better projects, the cheating propensity 

Giriraj Swami: You seem straight to the core of their weak hearts. I don’t think anyone could argue with what you just said.

Question: Talking about the scientist. When I was a new devotee. I stayed with my sister for one week. My sister is a PhD Physicist and I was so excited about Krishna consciousness that I didn’t know very much how to preach. I just wanted to tell her everything I knew, I read in the books and then she looked at me and said, “I only believe in God if you can refute? I mean I had to shut up. I didn’t know what to do. I mean we changed the subject. I was chanting and she saw me chanting every day and then I left and didn’t come back. Then she called me; she said you know the beads you have? I said, “Yes.” She said, “Could you send me some of those beads and the mantra? Because you looked so relaxed. I sent her the beads and she started chanting. She didn’t have any idea and then she became a vegetarian. It was kind of like I didn’t know enough but Krishna took over.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, we have many weapons. Argument is one of them but we have the holy name. We have prasāda. Funny how I ended up on that topic.

Mahā-prasāda ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!