Giriraj Swami’s Vyasa-puja

Giriraj Swami: First I would like to thank our master of ceremonies, Smita Krishna Prabhu, who made a most important point in his introductory remarks, that today’s celebration is a continuation of the Glory of Prabhupada festival—because everything that we are doing here is for the glory and glorification of Srila Prabhupada. So it has been quite ecstatic. In fact, after hearing His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja and His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami Maharaja speak, I also felt like I wanted to grab the microphone and glorify Srila Prabhupada.

I thought to read one verse from the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It follows immediately after the verse that His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja quoted. The verse that he quoted was Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Eleven, Chapter Three, “Liberation from the Illusory Energy.”

TEXT 21

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ
brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

TRANSLATION

Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.

COMMENT

Now we shall discuss:

TEXT 22

tatra bhāgavatān dharmān
śikṣed gurv-ātma-daivataḥ
amāyayānuvṛttyā yais
tuṣyed ātmātma-do hariḥ

TRANSLATION

Accepting the bona fide spiritual master as one’s life and soul and worshipable deity, the disciple should learn from him the process of pure devotional service. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, the soul of all souls, is inclined to give Himself to His pure devotees. Therefore, the disciple should learn from the spiritual master to serve the Lord without duplicity and in such a faithful and favorable way that the Supreme Lord, being satisfied, will offer Himself to the faithful disciple.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī the Lord’s tendency to give Himself to His pure devotee is demonstrated in the case of Bali Mahārāja, who sacrificed his universal kingdom for the pleasure of Lord Vāmanadeva. Lord Vāmana was so pleased by the selfless surrender of Bali Mahārāja that the Lord became the doorman in the palace of Bali, who was reinstalled as a great leader in the universe.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī comments that the spiritual master is to be considered the ātmā, or the very life, of the disciple, since real life begins when one is initiated by a bona fide spiritual master. Although one may experience many seemingly wonderful or important events in a dream, one’s real life begins when he wakes up. Similarly, since the spiritual master gives birth to the disciple by awakening him to spiritual life, a bona fide disciple understands that his spiritual master is the very basis of his life.

According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all pleasure, and thus the Lord’s giving Himself to a pure devotee indicates that such a devotee becomes immersed in the highest possible ecstasy. In this connection there is the following śruti-mantra: ānandād dhīmāni bhūtāni jāyante. “Indeed, it is from the all-blissful Supreme that all these creatures have come into being.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has further pointed out that when the Lord bestows His own self upon a pure devotee such a fortunate devotee can actually see the Lord, touch Him and directly engage in His service.

According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, one should never consider one’s spiritual master to be mundane or on an equal level with one’s self. One should see the spiritual master as being always under the shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. One should never try to engage the spiritual master in one’s personal service with the mentality of lording it over the spiritual master and attaining through him some material gain. One who is actually advancing will become more and more eager to serve the spiritual master, and thus such a disciple experiences the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

There are more instructions in the purport quoted from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, but the main point here is that a bona fide spiritual master, such as His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, trains his disciples in such a way that they give themselves fully to the service of the Lord—to such an extent that in reciprocation the Lord Himself gives Himself to the devotee. Srila Prabhupada trained us in that mood of surrender and service; he taught us by his instructions and by his example. And by his selfless service to his spiritual master, by giving himself fully to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through the service of his spiritual master, and by the grace of his spiritual master, the Supreme Personality of Godhead gave Himself fully to Srila Prabhupada.

The entire process is accomplished through paramparā. We give ourselves fully to our spiritual master, who has given himself fully to his spiritual master, and thus ultimately to Krishna. And in reciprocation, Krishna gives Himself to that surrendered servant of the spiritual master, His pure devotee. Therefore, by serving the spiritual master, as Srila Prabhupada taught and showed us, we can get Krishna, the mercy of Krishna.

The other night I spoke of Srila Prabhupada’s special position as the Acharya, capital “A.” He presented Krishna consciousness in a particular way. Of course, he maintained the same principles coming from Krishna, coming from Vyasadeva, through disciplic succession, but he also made some adjustments especially for us. Therefore we all should follow Srila Prabhupada.

One of the special features of Srila Prabhupada’s presentation of Krishna consciousness was his emphasis on preaching cooperatively—on preaching, and on preaching cooperatively. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had requested his disciples to form a governing body and preach cooperatively, but unfortunately they were not able to take up that instruction. But Srila Prabhupada did, and he established ISKCON on the principle of preaching cooperatively. A true follower of Srila Prabhupada will seize this essential point.

The distinction between preaching cooperatively and preaching in one’s own independent way is so significant that when Srila Prabhupada discussed the disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura who didn’t follow the instruction to preach cooperatively, he said that they had become āsāra, or useless, “having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master.”

Some may argue, “Well, there are many followers of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and many followers of Srila Rupa Gosvami, and if we follow any of them, it comes to the same thing.” But if we miss the important point of preaching cooperatively, we are not really following Srila Prabhupada. We are not really following the Acharya who was empowered by Krishna to be the Acharya and lead the way after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

Now, when I speak as I just did, one may get the sense that there is an imperative: “You must preach cooperatively!” And it is true that in the beginning cooperating may be difficult—very difficult, extremely difficult. Still, we do it because we know that Srila Prabhupada wants it. But what I have seen over the years is that as devotees become more mature in Krishna consciousness, more purified, they actually develop love for each other and trust for each other. So that cooperative effort is not just an imperative that we must follow because we have been ordered by the superior acharya, but it becomes a positive joy. And that is what we have been experiencing here today. I have been overwhelmed by all the love. It is love for Srila Prabhupada—he is the center—and then it extends to all who are serving him, to all who are dear to him—which is everyone here, everyone here who is trying to serve him.

It was interesting to hear the various anecdotes about Srila Prabhupada with me expressed in terms different than I usually use when I relate them. And hearing the little differences, I actually found deeper meaning in the stories, meanings that I did not consider when I would just repeat more or less verbatim what I had heard and tell what I had experienced; the little variations themselves suggested some purports.

Given the basic principle of how Srila Prabhupada trained us to give ourselves fully to the service of the Lord—which really meant fully to his service, and through disciplic succession to the service of the Lord—I thought to pull together a few little incidents that have contributed to my development in Krishna consciousness, taking inspiration from what our other esteemed speakers have said.

His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami informed us that the spiritual master repeats the message of Vyasadeva, who is the original spiritual master because He is Krishna Himself. In the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham: “I am the knower of the Veda, and I am the compiler of Vedanta.” He does that in the form of Vyasa. But each acharya, each speaker, each teacher, each preacher will add his own flavor; he will present the same message, but in his own words and with his own mood and emphasis.

Here I thought of an incident about a devotee who was distributing books in America. He would tell people, “These books tell you how to live in harmony with nature and how to be happier in life"—something like that. So another disciple of Srila Prabhupada’s feared that this was some sort of deviation, that the devotee wasn’t really presenting pure Krishna consciousness as Srila Prabhupada did, and so he presented the case to His Divine Grace. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “That is very good. That is just what I say [laughter], except that he has made it sweeter, like a śuka.” (That book distributor was very successful, I may add.)

So Srila Prabhupada did not want us to just repeat verbatim what he said. Of course, he did want us to do that, but if we could present the same message in a way that would appeal to the audience and inspire them to buy his books, to serve his mission, he was most pleased.

His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami mentioned how the disciple is molded by the spiritual master, and I did go through some molding. [laughter] It was not that easy. In fact, it can be very painful. I think of one instance when Srila Prabhupada arrived at Juhu. We were so excited: Srila Prabhupada was coming. In particular, I was full of hope and expectation—"Now Srila Prabhupada will come and sort things out"—because there were so many problems with the land and the landlord.

I happened to be in the car with Srila Prabhupada coming from the airport to Hare Krishna Land, and I was just waiting for the nectar. As we drove up the driveway onto the property, the first thing he said was “Why is that light on?” Then a moment later, “Why is that man climbing the coconut tree? We don’t allow.” It was like—Boom! Boom! Boom!—every moment he pointed out some new defect. Ordinarily, it was a simple two-minute drive up the driveway. But this time—Boom! Boom! Boom!—"Why this?” “Why that?” “Why this?” “Why that?” My head was reeling. I couldn’t assimilate all the details that he was pointing out, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.

Then we accompanied Srila Prabhupada to his room. I thought, “Okay, now we will have a nice reception, and Srila Prabhupada will glance lovingly at all the disciples.” But then he began to point out more faults. At the time I took it that he was criticizing me in front of all the devotees. I thought, “How could he do this? How will they listen to me? I am supposed to be the temple president. How will they listen to me if he is finding fault with me in front of all of them?” [laughter]—though not in that challenging way; not so extreme. Still, it did cross my mind: “Who is going to listen to me now, after you have just exposed all of my faults?”

Ultimately, I knew that whatever Srila Prabhupada did was for the best, so I tried to control my mind with my intelligence and understand what he was trying to teach me, what he was trying to achieve. But it was difficult and painful.

I would say that the main instrument that Srila Prabhupada used for molding me was His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja. Two incidents in particular demonstrate how he helped train me. The first took place early, when we first got the Juhu land and were meeting people to get donations. Actually, at the time, there were so many complications with the land that we were not really able to collect for Juhu, so we would try to get other kinds of support for the project—to help overcome the difficulties—and at the same time raise donations for Vrindavan. Tamal Krishna Goswami and I formed a team.

It was almost impossible then to get appointments with Indian businessmen once they were in the office. The only way we could consistently get appointments was to catch them at home before they went to work. That usually meant starting to phone at seven in the morning. Now, I was the type of neophyte or whatever, that I had to chant my rounds before I could function properly. And Tamal Krishna Goswami really wanted appointments. He wanted five every day. He really wanted to be busy. And I tried, I really tried, but sometimes it got to be too much for me.

So one morning, when I was supposed to be making phone calls, I decided to chant my rounds. And I felt much better after chanting my rounds early. Then, at about nine o’clock, as usual, Tamal Krishna Goswami asked for the report of how many appointments I had made for the day. [laughter] I said, “I didn’t really do very well today. I didn’t make any appointments"—or maybe I had made one; maybe I was lucky and had made one at the end. He asked, “What about so-and-so?” And I don’t know—I just couldn’t tell him what had happened; I was afraid of the consequences. So I said, “He was out.” [laughter] Then he said, “And what about so-and-so?” And I said, “The line was always busy.” [laughter] Then he asked, “What about so-and-so?” And I just kept making different excuses. Anyway, he let it go.

Somehow, however, later in the day, Goswami Maharaja spoke to one of the Mr. So-and-so’s. [laughter] He asked him, “Did Giriraj phone to make an appointment with you?” And the person answered, “No.” [laughter] So, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami called me into his office. He was very, very angry. He said, “You pretend to be very sweet and innocent [laughter], but you are not innocent at all! You are a liar!” There was something in me that rebelled against what he said. My false ego didn’t like his comments. But again, I tried to control my mind with my intelligence and think about what he had said. It took two or three days, I was so disturbed by the whole encounter. It did take some time, but eventually I realized, “What he said is true.” And I resolved to improve.

The other incident relates to the Juhu land, where we had a semi-permanent temple for Radha-Rasabihari. After the landlord, Mr. Nair, died, Mrs. Nair collected some life insurance, and as we heard it, she used the money to bribe the municipal office and the police to come and break down the temple, because the temple was what really secured our possession. So they came and broke down most of the temple, and they had just begun to make one or two small holes at the corners of the roof of the Deity room when by some intervention they were stopped and the Deity room was left intact.

We undertook a major effort to get the municipal corporation to give us permission to rebuild the temple. It was a good exercise, but after a while we realized that we didn’t need permission to rebuild the temple, because we already had permission to build it in the first place. They had just falsely claimed that we didn’t. So one Thursday, when this realization dawned on us, we went to Sadajivatlal’s office. He was our main support in our campaign to get the permission, and he also happened to be a builder. His main business was sweets, but he also did construction. He said, “Okay, we will just collect the construction materials and rebuild it.”

Somehow Mrs. Nair got wind of our plan, and Friday afternoon she went to the court to get an injunction to prevent us from rebuilding. The judge, who coincidentally had been a chief guest at one of our pandal programs, said that he would not grant any injunction without hearing from us. As it was already late Friday afternoon, he said, “I will hear both parties Monday morning.”

We knew that we had to rebuild the temple over the weekend, because her petition was to stop us from rebuilding the temple, but if it was already rebuilt, the injunction would have no meaning—it would be too late.

Mr. Sethi was the main one to take up the work. He was also a builder. He had cement and people, and he came personally to see the work done. Then Mr. Nair’s main accomplice, Mr. “Matar,” came to the site. He was a very slimy character, and he told Mr. Sethi, “You can rebuild the temple all you want, but I am going to come in the middle of the night with twenty guṇḍās, and we are going to tear it down.” Mr. Sethi replied, “Well, I am going to get fifty guṇḍās.” [laughter] And he turned to his son and said, “Brij Mohan, bring my revolver.” [laughter] That was the situation; it was very tense. We had a time limit, and we had a lot of enemies just waiting to attack.

A few days earlier His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Goswami had passed through Bombay, and I was really inspired by him. I liked his humble and gentle demeanor, and I really just wanted to emulate him. Now, Saturday night Tamal Krishna Goswami told me, “We are going to have people working all night long, and the guṇḍās may come to attack. So I want you to stay up all night and make sure that the work keeps going and that nothing goes wrong.” Not meaning to contradict what he said, I just sort of mentioned how I was really inspired by Satsvarupa Maharaja and how humble he was. [laughter] I wasn’t making a comment about Tamal Krishna Goswami; I was just suggesting that this wasn’t exactly what I thought I should be doing—I wanted to be more like Satsvarupa Maharaja. Tamal Krishna Goswami looked at me. And he said very seriously, “Your humility is to stay up all night and make sure that this temple is rebuilt!”

He was right. That was true: if I would have retired for the evening so I could get up early and be a good devotee and chant my rounds—which isn’t bad—I wouldn’t have really been humble. It was more humble to submit to the authority and do the needful for Srila Prabhupada’s service. So that was an important lesson about what it means to be humble. To be humble really means to be ready to do whatever the spiritual master wants, without consideration, whether it appears to be humble according to popular conceptions of what a sadhu is or not.

His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Swami mentioned how loving and caring Srila Prabhupada was. To some extent, because we were with Srila Prabhupada so much—of course, we loved it, and we love Srila Prabhupada for it, but we didn’t realize how rare such kindness was until after Srila Prabhupada left. Maharaja told the story of the sandeśa and rasagullā, which reminded me of another instance of how caring Srila Prabhupada was. This one is very interesting; I also thought of it the first night of the pandal here, Saturday night. It just came to me. I was speaking with Sri Prahlada, and I was saying, “I think I can get through this visit here. The real question is how long it will take me to recover from it when I get back,” because I have the experience from going to Texas and other places that I can do well enough in the place itself but that when I get home the repercussions for my health hit me. Suddenly, while speaking with Sri Prahlada, I thought of something that Srila Prabhupada had said to me more than thirty years ago—because even then I tended to push myself to do more than I could physically bear. Srila Prabhupada told me, “To work very hard for Krishna two days and then to recuperate for three days—that is not a very good proposal.” And I related that to my present situation.

Now, coming back to the incident that Maharaja reminded me of, I had been sick with jaundice, but I was pushing myself—going out and meeting people, trying to get support and raise funds for the temple, and so on. As usual, that day I had traveled to and from the city in crowded trains and buses, and not taken any prasādam since the morning.

When I came back to Srila Prabhupada’s room in the evening and was sitting in front of him, I imagined that I appeared enthusiastic—healthy and enthusiastic. Srila Prabhupada looked at me and said, “How are you feeling?” I wanted to say, “Fine,” but when I thought for a moment, I realized that I didn’t feel fine. I felt weak and sick. Then he said, “You need to eat something.” He asked his servant to bring grapes, and then he personally handed me the tray and told me to eat the grapes, right in front of him. He said that they were good for energy. He was concerned like that.

So what happened? Why did it become so rare for us to be kind to each other? As I was considering that question while Maharaja was speaking, I thought of the atmosphere after Srila Prabhupada left. It was very competitive. Some of you have lived through this part of ISKCON’s history, and many of you may not have, but after Srila Prabhupada left, the world was divided into zones with, in effect, an acharya for each zone. And most of the leaders were very competitive: how to distribute more books, how to make more devotees, how to acquire more and bigger properties than anyone else. And because of that competitiveness and ambitiousness, which Srila Prabhupada had encouraged in a certain context, although he himself had stated that cooperation was higher than competition, the leaders, and from the leaders on down, the managers, became quite ruthless for Krishna.

So that idea that we should care for each other, care for the devotees, take care of them when they need help—that wasn’t very common.

One of the first devotees who really impressed me with that mood was His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja. [applause] He was very loving and caring. He would cook for the devotees—wonderful prasāda—and he was very friendly and loving and caring. In my experience with him, he manifested that care to the utmost in the case of Mother Arca Vigraha.

As Maharaja mentioned, we were next-door neighbors. The house in which I stayed was actually built by Mother Arca Vigraha, a renowned artist in South Africa. She built the ground floor for her studio and residence, and the upper floor for me, and she planned to go to Vrindavan once or twice every year to paint, and then to return to her base in Johannesburg. Eventually, she was diagnosed with cancer, and I suggested, “Now you should just go and live in Vrindavan.” So she did.

Now, there are two levels to Govinda Maharaja’s service. On one level, sometimes Arca Vigraha was in excruciating pain, and Maharaja would come over and try to give her relief, even helping in practical ways to reduce the pain. He would help deal with the different practical problems that invariably arise in Vrindavan, which in any circumstances is austere—scarcity of necessities, difficulties with the electricity, and so many other problems.

On the positive side, Arca knew that she should prepare for death by remembering Krishna, that the goal of life is to remember Krishna at the time of death (ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ).

But how? It seemed sort of abstract. How do you do it practically? His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja thought, “She has to have a more vivid idea of Krishna and His qualities and His pastimes and His associates.” Srila Prabhupada also would say, “Every religion, or every bona fide scripture, will say, ‘You should love God.’ But how, practically, do you love God? They say, ‘God is great.’ But how great is God? They do not know.”

Srila Prabhupada would continue, “Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives all detailed information about God—His name, His parents’ names, His friends, His activities, His address, His phone number—every detail.”

Govinda Maharaja thought very intelligently, “We have to tell Mother Arca Vigraha all about Krishna and His pastimes with His associates in detail. Then remembering Krishna will become more practical.” So he would come and read to her, and many senior devotees in Vrindavan would come and read, and do kirtan. He really extended himself very generously, both on a practical level—dealing with her pain and other problems—and on a spiritual level. Every morning he would come over and bring his Deities and leave Them on her altar. It was an extraordinary demonstration of love and care.

That love and care was embodied in Srila Prabhupada. Whatever we are exhibiting ourselves is really just what was there in Srila Prabhupada, and that is really very important to know—very important.

Last night I met with His Holiness Partha Sarathi Maharaja, and after some time, as the talk was coming to an end, he asked me, “What do you suggest for ISKCON?” And I asked, “In what way?” He said, “In terms of the direction of the society, what the society needs to do.”

The first thing I said was that we have to stop committing offenses. We are not able to come up because we commit so many offenses. The process is there. The five most potent items are there: sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana, bhāgavata-śravaṇa mathurā-vāsa, śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana. Rupa Gosvami says that even a slight association with any one of them can awaken ecstatic love for Krishna, if performed without offense.

I continued, “But that is on the negative side. On the positive side we should have more loving relationships with each other.” And I feel very encouraged by what I have seen here among the senior devotees—and I hope on all levels—really very loving, caring, ecstatic relationships, based on service to Srila Prabhupada.

That has been a theme of many ISKCON leaders recently-His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami, His Holiness Radhanath Swami—many leaders have emphasized the need for loving relationships in order to create a society that we want to be part of and stay part of, and that other people will want to join as well.

And the last thing I said was “More kirtan.” I feel we have to have more kirtan, more hearing and chanting about Krishna. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam: by saṅkīrtana the dirty things in the heart become cleansed and our appreciation for Krishna increases. I cited a verse from Bhakti-sandarbha in which Jiva Gosvami states, “Of all the processes, the congregational chanting of the holy name, the chanting of the holy name in the association of other devotees, has the greatest power to awaken spiritual sentiments.” Kirtan is something all devotees can do together—whatever their level of advancement, whatever their realization—they can have kirtan, and they will get inspiration, and they will feel one with all the others in the kirtan. They will all be together in Krishna consciousness.

In other words, we must chant the holy names without offense, which is what Srila Prabhupada said all along. In practically every initiation letter, including mine, he wrote, “Avoid the ten offenses.” Chant at least sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and avoid the ten offenses.

I don’t know what more to say. It has just been so wonderful being with all of you. It really has been very special. I don’t know if I am meant to end here, because I can’t think of anything else to say. [laughter] I am stuck on this point of how wonderful the association of our godbrothers is.

Maybe I will end now, because as His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami taught in his course, “Don’t speak because you have to say something. Speak because you have something to say,” [laughter, applause] which just reminded me of something I wanted to say. [laughter] When I first returned to India after being away for some years with visa problems, Bhurijana Prabhu had just started the VIHE, the Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education. Many of the most senior preachers in the movement were teaching classes. His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami taught that one on “Clear Thinking, Strong Speaking,” and he also taught “Editing and Revising.” Different devotees, including His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, taught different subjects.

Over the years, I also have taught courses there and in other places, on The Nectar of Devotion, The Nectar of Instruction, Lord Caitanya’s Teaching to Rupa Gosvami (Rūpa-śikṣā), and Lord Caitanya’s Teaching to Sanatana Gosvami” (Sanatana-śikṣā). For the last several years I haven’t taught any courses like that, but while hearing His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami speak, I got inspired. He was speaking so much nectar, as Govinda Maharaja noted, a flow of nectar: Narada Muni and Vyasadeva and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada—they were all manifesting from his speech. I wanted to reciprocate, but I felt like I couldn’t. I was silenced.

All the things that he was saying that were reminding me of things I would like to say in response have been expressed in a most authorized and shastric way in the Bhakti-sandarbha by Jiva Gosvami. So it crossed my mind that maybe I should teach that. [applause] We will have to get a good translation, of course. But there is so much in there. Everything that I would want to say is there, articulated by Jiva Gosvami with reference to various scriptures.

And as Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja was speaking about the devotees from Kazakhstan, I also felt like reciprocating with his mood. Of course, the sentiment was there—"I must go to Kazakhstan"—though I am not sure about the practicality. But maybe we can all meet in Vrindavan—or anywhere.

Not all of you may know this, but “Giriraj” is a name for Govardhana Hill, and devotees in Vrindavan, referring to Govardhana Hill, often exclaim, “Bol Giriraj Maharaja ki jaya!” [laughter] That was a very poor imitation; excuse me. So it has a double meaning. [laughter] And then I would reply to Govinda Maharaja, “Bol Govindadeva-ji ki jaya!” [applause]. This is also Prabhupada’s blessing, that he has given us such nice names to remind us of Krishna.

Ramanujacharya Prabhu. He is very generous, as Smita Krishna Prabhu said. He would go to devotees’ homes. He would visit the homes of many initiated by me, and he would tell me how they were doing. If he felt they needed work in a certain area, he would tell me about it in a very nice way. He would go and speak with them and play harmonium and sing, and in the temple as well, he would play harmonium and sing in front of the Deities. That was always very inspiring.

Shyamlal Prabhu. It is really very important to our life members and friends to have steady relationships with devotees. They like the same person always to be there, and Shyamlal is that person. He has been friends with many of our congregation members and supporters year after year. Some of you may know that Shyamlal Prabhu comes from the holy land of Navadvipa. Once I was at a program with Shyamlal Prabhu in Uitenhage, and one of our friends there, one of our supporters, introduced him: “You may not be able to see it, but Shyamlal dasa is a resident of Navadvipa-dhāma, and he has four arms.” [laughter, applause]

And Nanda Kumar Prabhu. He, in his humility, took something out of what His Holiness Radhanath Swami said. When His Holiness Radhanath Swami was leaving Carpinteria, he embraced Nanda Kumar Prabhu and said, “You are the best of the best!” [applause]

So we are surrounded by wonderful devotees, exalted souls. We don’t know who we might be sitting next to [laughter]—very special souls. It is hard to say which of Srila Prabhupada’s gifts is the most important, but I could easily argue that his devotees are the most important, because from them we get the holy name and we get Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—we get everything. We get the whole process of devotional service as Srila Prabhupada gave it to us. But actually, we can’t distinguish, because how can you say something is more valuable than the holy name? How can you say something is more valuable than the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? How can you say something is more valuable than Vrindavan-dhāma or Navadvipa-dhāma, or more important than Sri Sri Radha-Radhanath?

So we have received many, many blessings from Srila Prabhupada, many gifts that we should value and appreciate. But I would say that the one we should try the most to appreciate is the other devotees. Such appreciation is natural and easy in this association. I don’t know how long the rental agreement at Tunganani will last, but the way I feel now, I never want to leave. [applause]

In conclusion, I must express my appreciation to all the devotees, to all of you. I really didn’t expect such wonderful arrangements, because we had such a major festival just last weekend. I don’t know where you found the time and the energy and the intelligence to do it all, but it is just another testimony to the wonderful devotion in this yatra, and to its strong spiritual leadership—and ultimately, to the glory of Prabhupada. [applause]

Hare Krishna.