SB 10.2.31 – Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

om namo bhagavate vasudevaya

We have gathered on the most auspicious Appearance Day of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya! The Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and our spiritual master.

I thought today to read a verse from the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Chapter, entitled “Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Womb.” The verse is about the acharya. And it is significant because the demigods were praying to Krishna within the womb, but Krishna means not only Krishna Himself, but Krishna includes His representative, the spiritual master. And, as we know, Srila Prabhupada appeared in this world the day after Krishna Janmashtami. In fact, it is said that Srila Prabhupada was due to arrive on the day of Janmashtami, but because he didn’t want to detract from the celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami, he came out the next day. So, the intimate connection between Srila Prabhupada and Krishna is demonstrated in how close their appearance days are, and the intimate connection is also discussed in the verse that we are about to read. Please repeat.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.2.31

svayaṁ samuttīrya sudustaraṁ dyuman
bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ
bhavat-padāmbhoruha-nāvam atra te
nidhāya yātāḥ sad-anugraho bhavān

TRANSLATION

O Lord, who resemble the shining sun, You are always ready to fulfill the desire of Your devotee, and therefore You are known as a desire tree [vāñchā-kalpataru]. When ācāryas completely take shelter under Your lotus feet in order to cross the fierce ocean of nescience, they leave behind on earth the method by which they cross, and because You are very merciful to Your other devotees, You accept this method to help them.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This statement reveals how the merciful ācāryas and the merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead together help the serious devotee who wants to return home, back to Godhead. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His teachings to Rūpa Gosvāmī, said:

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
 guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja        [Cc. Madhya 19.151]

One can achieve the seed of bhakti-latā, devotional service, by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. The duty of the guru is to find the means, according to the time, the circumstances and the candidate, by which one can be induced to render devotional service, which Kṛṣṇa accepts from a candidate who wants to be successful in going back home, back to Godhead. After wandering throughout the universe, a fortunate person within this material world seeks shelter of such a guru, or ācārya, who trains the devotee in the suitable ways to render service according to the circumstances so that the Supreme Personality of Godhead will accept the service. This makes it easier for the candidate to reach the ultimate destination. The ācārya’s duty, therefore, is to find the means by which devotees may render service according to references from śāstra. Rūpa Gosvāmī, for example, in order to help subsequent devotees, published such devotional books as Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Thus it is the duty of the ācārya to publish books that will help future candidates take up the method of service and become eligible to return home, back to Godhead, by the mercy of the Lord. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, this same path is being prescribed and followed. Thus the devotees have been advised to refrain from four sinful activities — illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling — and to chant sixteen rounds a day. These are bona fide instructions. Because in the Western countries constant chanting is not possible, one should not artificially imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, but should follow this method. Kṛṣṇa will accept a devotee who strictly follows the regulative principles and the method prescribed in the various books and literatures published by the authorities. The ācārya gives the suitable method for crossing the ocean of nescience by accepting the boat of the Lord’s lotus feet, and if this method is strictly followed, the followers will ultimately reach the destination, by the grace of the Lord. This method is called ācārya sampradāya. It is therefore said, sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te niṣphalā matāḥ (Padma Purāṇa). The ācārya sampradāya is strictly bona fide. Therefore one must accept the ācārya sampradāya; otherwise one’s endeavor will be futile. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura therefore sings:

tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta sane vāsa
janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa

One must worship the lotus feet of the ācārya and live within the society of devotees. Then one’s endeavor to cross over nescience will surely be successful.

TRANSLATION [repeated]

O Lord, who resemble the shining sun, You are always ready to fulfill the desire of Your devotee, and therefore You are known as a desire tree [vāñchā-kalpataru]. When ācāryas completely take shelter under Your lotus feet in order to cross the fierce ocean of nescience, they leave behind on earth the method by which they cross, and because You are very merciful to Your other devotees, You accept this method to help them.

COMMENT

So, this verse and purport explain how Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna work together to deliver the fallen souls. Actually, Krishna, from one point of view, has nothing to do with the material world. He has His own pastimes with His pure devotees in His spiritual abode. Krishna’s only business is with His devotees and therefore, when one considers the question: How does someone get the seed of devotional service? The answer is, first by the mercy of the devotee. Srila Prabhupada quoted the verse from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc. Madhya 19.151]. That by the mercy of guru and Krishna, one gets the seed of devotional service, but first comes guru’s mercy and then Krishna’s. And because Krishna is sat-anugrahah, merciful to His devotee, so when the devotee wants to give the seed of devotional service to some fallen soul, Krishna fulfills the desire of His devotee. Of course, the candidate also has to be willing to accept the transcendental gift, but the Lord within the heart helps the candidate by inspiring him from within to accept the process.

This fact is illustrated in the story of Dhruva Maharaja and in many other histories. But Dhruva Maharaja, as you know, wanted to find God. His purpose was to get a kingdom, but still, he wanted to find God. But he was only five-year-old. He approached his mother, “How can I get my kingdom?” His mother said, “I don’t know who can help you. I don’t think I can help you. Maybe God can help you.” He said, “Where can I find God?” And she said, “Well, many sages and saintly persons go to the forest to find God, so maybe you can find Him there.” So, he went to the forest, and in the way of a child of the age of five, he was looking for God. He was looking in the bushes, he looked under the stones, he looked behind the trees, and looked under the logs. He was very sincere to find God in his own way. And God, who is in his heart, could understand his sincere desire, and therefore He sent His representative. He sent a spiritual master, Narada Muni, to instruct the boy in the method by which he could attain God.

And Narada instructed him in various details of devotional service culminating in the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. And Dhruva was so sincere and serious and strict in his practices that eventually, after only six months, God appeared to Dhruva. He came before Dhruva, and Dhruva was overwhelmed with transcendental love. The Lord asked him to accept some benediction, and Dhruva said, “I don’t want any benediction.” And the Lord, who knew everything, said, “But what about the kingdom? You came here to get the kingdom.” And Dhruva replied, svāmin kṛtārtho ‘smi varaṁ na yāce [Cc Madhya 22.42] – “That kingdom that I was searching is like a piece of broken glass, and now I have found You, my Lord, who are like the most precious jewel. So I am completely satisfied. I have no other desire. I do not want any other benediction.”

When I first met Srila Prabhupada, in 1969, in Boston, I was very much in the mood of doing good for others; doing good to humanity. And my conception of doing good evolved as time went on. In high school, I thought doing good meant doing good to the body. So I thought that the best way to help people would be to become a doctor. So, I was the President of the Future Doctors Association in high school. But then, in college, I saw that people were suffering terribly within their minds. They could be perfectly healthy physically, but within their minds they could be suffering terribly. I had one friend who I didn’t know that he was suffering from depression. But like that he would just go into his room and lie on his bed, and he wouldn’t want to get up or do anything. And I could see that just giving him love, that was what I thought, love could cure all ills and solve all that wasn’t working.

So then I became a psychology major and studied with a Professor named Abraham Maslow who was a great authority. But then, I looked at the psychologists themselves, the professors in the department, and I saw they were just like anyone else. They engage in the same types of politics in trying to get there. Anyway, there are many details, but just trying to get their type of person into the department and get a greater share of the budget for their projects. And Professor Maslow, himself, he was very good but he had the idea of a hierarchy of needs that you go from the most basic needs for physical survival, then more emotional needs for security, and then ultimately the need for what he called self-actualization.

Devotee: What school was this?

Giriraj Swami: Brandeis University. And so he did a study of healthy people.

Up until then, there were two main schools of psychology: behaviorism, which studied rats or stimulus response, and psychoanalysis, which studied diseased persons. So he wanted to develop a study of healthy people. And so he had this term, self-actualized people. And he found in his research that there were certain common characteristics to them, and part of it was that they would have what he called peak experiences, which were sort of transcendental types of mystical experiences.

So, we are talking about looking for God.; Dhruva Maharaja. There was a whole generation of people who were looking for God, then. Then one day, Professor Maslow gave a class in which he mentioned that on one occasion, he had suffered certain symptoms. I forget exactly what they were, maybe trembling, sweating. I forget what all the symptoms were, and he didn’t know what was happening. And he was somewhat confused. So, he called a colleague of his, and he described the symptoms, and he asked his colleague, what is happening. And his colleague said, “You are suffering from an anxiety attack.” And then Professor Maslow, it was a very nice thing to say, it was a very honest thing, he said that he had written books, chapters of books on anxiety attacks, but when he himself had one, he couldn’t recognize it.

So, I started to think, this psychology, it has good elements, but I was looking for that person who could guide me perfectly; who had perfect knowledge, and who could guide me perfectly. And then, I started looking into Eastern traditions; Zen Buddhism. I went to a lot of so-called gurus and masters and yogis and swamis. And then eventually, one of the professors in the Department of Psychology invited Srila Prabhupada to give a talk on the campus, and that was when I met Srila Prabhupada for the first time. Srila Prabhupada’s program was that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he would speak in the evening at the temple. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday he would have programs outside, and Sunday would be the Sunday Love Feast at the temple. And from then on, I started to go every night, either to the temple or to the outside program. So, one of the outside programs was at Boston College, and at the end of the talk there was a kirtan. And during the kirtan, I didn’t think of it in those terms then, but in retrospect, I had something. By Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, I had an experience of the holy name.

Now, we were chanting in a circle and devotees really became very. . .Of course, it is true even now, the kirtans are ecstatic. And then, too, they were very ecstatic, and in Srila Prabhupada’s presence even more so. And I just felt this love coming out of me. It began, I would just look at the people in the room, and because I was feeling love for them, that sense of love, then it went beyond the boundaries of the classroom, out into the town of Boston, and the State, nation, all the way to California and then, I felt I was just embracing the whole universe. And I never had such an experience before. And I was so overcome. I had never really approached Srila Prabhupada directly, but I was so overcome, that afterwards I approached him. He was sitting on a dais in the classroom, and I just said, “This chanting is wonderful!” And Srila Prabhupada smiled that broad oceanic smile that many devotees have commented on and probably will comment on. And he started to chuckle; his shoulders and chest were heaving. It wasn’t very audible, and I could see he was in transcendental ecstasy. And he smiled and he looked at me and said, “Thank you very much.”

So, in retrospect, I hadn’t thought of it in these terms before, but in retrospect, I am seeing two things: That there was that period at the end of high school and leading into college when I thought that love could solve all problems and heal all ills. But by that one experience of chanting, I felt more love than I ever did in my life. And then coming to college, becoming a psychology major, studying about self-actualization and peak experiences, I had something that probably would come in the category of a peak experience, although it is probably different. And that just came from chanting, by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.

So then, after two-and-a-half months in the temple, the devotees, they wanted me to do Deity worship. So they wanted me to get initiated. In those days, if you had first initiation you could do Deity worship. So I wrote Srila Prabhupada a letter, and he wrote back, “I am glad to note that you have experienced at least some of the bliss of Krishna consciousness.” And again, at the time I didn’t relate it to that experience at Boston College. I thought he had just figured that I wouldn’t want to ask for initiation unless I had experienced some bliss, which was true, too. And that wasn’t the only experience, but it was an experience. And then he gave me my initiated name. And then he wrote, it is amazing, he paraphrased this verse that, “The living entities are traveling throughout the universe and in different species of life on different planets, and they have no clue as to the real aim of life. So I marked it in your presence when I met you, and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may become aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.” So this is like the dual mercy of the devotee that he gives you the method by which you can cross the ocean of nescience, and he prays to Krishna to inspire the candidate to accept the method—guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. And the method, as mentioned in the purport here and as repeated by Srila Prabhupada on numerous occasions, is to chant sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily and to follow the four regulated principles; no eating meat, fish, or eggs, no taking of intoxicants, no gambling, and no engaging in illicit sex. And also, he mentions to read his books; to read the books left by the previous acharyas.

Srila Prabhupada would take rest about 10:00 at night, in general. There were exceptions. And then, he would get up at 12:00 midnight after only two hours, and he would translate so that we would have these books to read and guide us. So we should take advantage of them. It was no ordinary feat what Srila Prabhupada did, and he did it for a reason; so that we would read the books. As he said, distributing my books (referring to the devotees) distributing my books will keep them happy, and reading my books will keep them fixed; keep them in the association of devotees. And to live in the association of devotees, tādera caraṇa-sebi-bhakta-sańe bās janame janame hoy ei abhilāṣ. And therefore, he formed this society, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, so we could have the association of devotees, which is essential.

Srila Rupa Gosvami has enumerated five most potent forms of devotional service. He says that even by a slight association with any one of the five, one can awaken ecstatic love for Krishna. So one is nāma kirtana, chanting the holy name. And that we do in the association of devotees. Kirtan means in the association of devotees. Bhāgavata-śravaṇa, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is done in the association of devotees. In Jagannatha Puri in those days, there were so many devotional scholars and poets, and they would write pieces and want Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to hear them. But the rule was that one would first have to present one’s composition to Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, who was Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s secretary. And if he approved it for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to hear then Mahaprabhu would agree.

So one scholar, devotee poet, he composed a verse in which he said that there are two Krishna’s in Jagannatha Puri. One is the standing Krishna, the wooden Krishna, Jagannatha, and the other is the moving Krishna, walking Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So the devotees in general liked the composition. They didn’t have the discrimination to see the defect. But Svarupa Damodara Gosvami immediately rejected it. He said, “You are distinguishing between the two, the moving Krishna and the non-moving Krishna, but They are the same.” And then, he advised him to study the Bhāgavata, Bhāgavata-sthani, in the association of a bhāgavata. To study the book Bhāgavata from a person bhāgavata.

So, nāma-kīrtana, we need the association of devotees; bhāgavata—sravana, we should hear from devotees, study under devotees; sādhu-saṅga, sādhu-saṅga, itself, means to associate with devotees who are more advanced and who are in the same mood of service. For us, that would, in general, mean to associate with followers of Srila Prabhupada. And sadhus, snigdhe svato vare [Cc Madhya 22.131], should be more advanced and have affection for the devotee, the candidate. Then, mathurā-vāsa to reside in Mathura, reside in a holy place; Mathura, Vrindavan, Navadvipa, Mayapur, or a temple of Vishnu. Temple of Vishnu or Krishna is in the same category as a holy place according to shastra. And so Srila Prabhupada has established so many temples. We get the same benefit of mathurā-vāsa, śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana [Cc Madhya 22.128], to worship the Deity with faith and devotion. And that is also done in the association of devotees, in general. To maintain the proper standard of worship one requires many brahmans, especially in the temple. And we need the temple for more association. So, the association of devotees is most important, and as circumstances change we may find that our place of residence is not in a physical community of devotees, but then we have to make a special effort to get the association of devotees.

Of course, there was one other very interesting incident. One year, when Srila Prabhupada came to Juhu, there was a new brahmachari with him who I had never seen before, but he was wearing nice orange cloth, and he was actually carrying Srila Prabhupada’s bags up from the car to Srila Prabhupada’s apartment on the third floor. They looked different. I didn’t know who he was, so I asked. “Oh, that is Alfred Ford. That is Ambarisa dasa; that is Alfred Ford.” o, Alfred Ford, Ambarisa Prabhu, stayed in Juhu for about two weeks, and I took him as my preaching partner. I regret it. I was a little fanatical then, and I subjected him to undue austerities, because I was a really staunch brahmachari. And it was really hot in Bombay, and the poor fellow was getting tired and thirsty, and would say, “Can we stop and get a juice?” “Oh! no, we don’t do that.” Ambarisa Prabhu, please forgive me. Anyway, once I relented, once or twice I relented; I let him have a juice. But anyway, it was very interesting. One day, he approached Srila Prabhupada and he said, “Giriraj and the others are going out every day for so many hours in the hot sun and meeting all these materialistic people and begging for money. I could just give you the money to build the temple,” and Srila Prabhupada said, “No.” He didn’t accept the money.

But then it came to the stage when Ambarisa Prabhu was going to leave, and he came before Srila Prabhupada for some final instructions. And Srila Prabhupada said that he should go back to Detroit and work. And Ambarisa Prabhu was concerned about the instruction. Srila Prabhupada said, “I want people to know that one can be a devotee and also be a responsible member of society.” Have a job and be a responsible member of society, because at that time, almost all the devotees lived in the temples. Now, as Prabhupada might say, we want some people to be an example of renounced, full dedication. But then, he said he want someone to be an example that one can be a devotee, and at the same time be a responsible member of society. Then Ambarisa Prabhu asked, “Do I have to work in the family business, in the Ford Motor Company?” And Prabhupada said, “No, you can work in any field.” And then, Ambarisa said, “What about my association? What will I do for association if I have to work?” And Prabhupada replied, “If whatever you are doing you think, ‘I am doing this for Krishna,’ that will be your association.”

Now, that is a very practical instruction, but that is not so easy to apply, to be always thinking, “I am doing this for Krishna.” Obviously you can’t be doing it thinking in a duplicitous way. You actually have to be doing it for Krishna. But, if you are actually doing it for Krishna and thinking of Krishna while you are doing it, then you are associating with Krishna. And with Krishna are His devotees and everything else connected to Krishna. But, practically to have that consciousness you need the association of devotees. Very few people can have that consciousness without the association of devotees. There is another instance in Bombay that one devotee, he had served in the temple for many years as everyone did in those days, pretty much. But he came to the stage, he felt he wanted to marry and move outside the temple, and he didn’t want to depend on the temple financially. So he felt he had to work. And Srila Prabhupada said, “That is good, but he must have the association of devotees.” He said, his example, he could live in his householder life away from the association of devotees. Bhaktivinoda Thakura—he could live away from the association of devotees. But he said, these neophytes, meaning us, if they live away from the association of devotees, they will become contaminated by the karmis’ poison, so they should live in the association of devotees.

So friendly, devotees are incessantly friendly, and we shouldn’t be friendly only to the fallen souls. We should be friendly to each other because we are all we have.

Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarkadhish ki jaya!

Sri Jagannatha-Baladeva-Subhadra ki jaya!

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

We are all we have. We have Srila Prabhupada, but we need the association of devotees, so we have to be friendly. It is one of the twenty-six qualities of a devotee, to be friendly and adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ—incessantly friendly to the fallen souls. Of course, we should be compassionate to those who are not devotees, but we should also be friendly to those who are devotees, because we are also struggling; we are all struggling; we all need support and encouragement. Then the association will be congenial, and in that association we will be able to get the full benefit of the gifts that Srila Prabhupada has given us; the method by which we can go back home, back to Godhead.

So on this occasion, we pray to Srila Prabhupada and to all of you to bless us with the intelligence to have faith in his instructions and to follow them in the association of his followers.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Arcita Prabhu.

Arcita dasa: Hare Krishna, thank you, Giriraj Maharaja. Thank you very much for the [Unintelligible 00:52:41] I was just wondering; you seem that you were pretty close to the professors. How did they react to you when you became a Hare Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Sorry?

Arcita dasa: It seems that you were very close to the professors at Brandeis. How did they react when you became a Hare Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Oh, how did they react when I became a Hare Krishna?

Arcita dasa: It seemed so irresponsible

Giriraj Swami: That is right. Well, the way it happened is that Srila Prabhupada and the devotees came to Brandeis. It was around March 30, it was just towards the end of the school year, and I had one term paper to write for a course in Educational Psychology. And I was so enamored of Krishna consciousness, it was the only thing I could think about. So, when it came to writing the term paper, I had to write about Krishna consciousness. So I basically wrote that Krishna consciousness is the perfect education, and I gave the example of the exchange between Arjuna and Krishna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra as the perfect exchange of knowledge, and maybe even a little bit of a perfect therapy for Arjuna, but mainly education. And the professor loved it. He thought this was like the most original essay he had ever gotten. He gave me an A on the paper and an A for the course. the department was really good in that way with Professor Maslow as the Chairman. They invited a lot of swamis and yogis. And so, the one professor who actually invited Srila Prabhupada and the devotees I told him I was looking for a guru, and that I was planning to go to India. So, he knew that was coming, but then I met Srila Prabhupada, and I didn’t have to go to India and encounter God knows what there. But, I don’t think the others really knew. But yes, as Amarendra Prabhu said, they are responsible.

And after not visiting my parents’ home for so many years being in India, I finally visited, and they had very diligently kept all of my mail from Brandeis and other places. Maybe they thought I would get nostalgic and attracted. So there was a letter from Brandeis, asking for alumni to send in reports of their activities, what has happened to them since they left Brandeis. So, I wrote that I had met my eternal teacher at Brandeis, and this is what I was doing, and I was eternally indebted to Brandeis University for providing the facility for me to meet my eternal master. Hare Krishna. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:56:46]

Giriraj Swami: Jaya. Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya!

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:56:51]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. What I meant by the dual mercy of the devotee is that the devotee he is merciful, so he gives you the method by which you can cross the ocean of nescience. And then, he is further merciful because he prays to Krishna. And because he prays to Krishna, and Krishna has no other desire than to fulfill the desires of His pure devotees, so, He will fulfill the prayer of His pure devotee to help the new devotee. And so Krishna’s mercy is also dual. He is merciful to the acharya by enabling him to cross the ocean of nescience, and He is also merciful to the acharya by fulfilling the acharya’s desire that the fallen souls accept the process of devotional service and also across the ocean of nescience. And He is merciful to us, to the other devotees, by accepting that method; by accepting our service, in other words. And Prabhupada knew the heart, especially in Kali-yuga, of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. He knew that They wanted Krishna consciousness to be preached, so Prabhupada engaged us in preaching, because he knew They would be very pleased by that service and accept that service and give us Their greatest mercy.

But just on that story of Dhruva, just to come back to that one little point about service. So, after having this background of thinking about serving humanity, I asked Srila Prabhupada a question within that first week or so. That, “From you I have understood the value of serving God, but how does service to God relate to service to humanity?” Because I still had that idea of service to humanity, and then Srila Prabhupada replied that, “People are looking for happiness, and if you give them something that makes them so happy that they have no more desires for anything else, and they are completely satisfied, is that not service to humanity?” And then, he told the story of Dhruva Maharaja, and how he was so satisfied with Krishna consciousness he didn’t want anything else, svamin krtartho ‘smi varam na yace, I am fully satisfied. And he also told the story of Alexander the Great. He came to conquer India, and when he came to the precincts of India, he found a yogi in meditation in the sun. He was very impressed that this yogi is just sitting in the sun without being disturbed by anything. So, he got down from his chariot or his horse, and he said to the yogi that, “I am very impressed by you. I am Alexander the Great, I am the emperor of the world. I would like to give you something. You ask me for whatever you want.” And the yogi said, “Please just move aside. You are blocking the sunlight.” In other words, “You are disturbing me in my meditation, so just get out of my way.” And blocking the sunlight means he was doing austerities in the hot sun. He didn’t want even Alexander’s shadow to diminish his austerities. So Prabhupada said, “That is the great value of Krishna consciousness.” And he quoted that verse from the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā that upon gaining this, one feels there is nothing greater to achieve and having gained this, one is not shaken even in the midst of the greatest difficulty. He said to give someone something like that, that they are so satisfied they have no other desire; they are completely happy, and they are never shaken in the greatest difficulty. Is that not a service to humanity?”

Devotee: Hare Krishna!

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya!