SB 4.29.48

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Four, Chapter Twenty-nine: “Talks Between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi.”

TEXT 48

svaṁ lokaṁ na vidus te vai
yatra devo janārdanaḥ
āhur dhūmra-dhiyo vedaṁ
sakarmakam atad-vidaḥ

TRANSLATION

Those who are less intelligent accept the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies as all in all. They do not know that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand one’s own home, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead lives. Not being interested in their real home, they are illusioned and search after other homes.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Generally people are not aware of their interest in life — to return home, back to Godhead. People do not know about their real home in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world there are many Vaikuṇṭha planets, and the topmost planet is Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Despite the so-called advancement of civilization, there is no information of the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, the spiritual planets. At the present moment so-called advanced civilized men are trying to go to other planets, but they do not know that even if they go to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, they have to come back again to this planet. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (8.16):

ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
punar āvartino ‘rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.”

If one goes to the highest planetary system within this universe he still has to return after the effects of pious activities are finished. Space vehicles may go very high in the sky, but as soon as their fuel is finished, they have to return to this earthly planet. All these activities are performed in illusion. The real attempt should now be to return home, back to Godhead. The process is mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā. Yānti mad-yājino ‘pi mām: those who engage in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead return home, back to Godhead. Human life is very valuable, and one should not waste it in vain exploration of other planets. One should be intelligent enough to return to Godhead. One should be interested in information about the spiritual Vaikuṇṭha planets, and in particular the planet known as Goloka Vṛndāvana, and should learn the art of going there by the simple method of devotional service, beginning with hearing (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ). This is also confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.3.51):

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

One can go to the supreme planet (paraṁ vrajet) simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. This is especially meant for the people of this age (kaler doṣa-nidhe). It is the special advantage of this age that simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra one can become purified of all material contamination and return home, back to Godhead. There is no doubt about this.

TRANSLATION (again)

Those who are less intelligent accept the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies as all in all. They do not know that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand one’s own home, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead lives. Not being interested in their real home, they are illusioned and search after other homes.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna!

So, the concept of home is very important because everyone wants to be home, and this phrase—back home, back to Godhead—is very important. The poet Robert Frost said that, “Home is where they have to take you, no matter what.” In other words, you may have problems at home with your parents, or with other family members, but if you go home, they have to take you. Like it or not, they have to take you. That is what home means. That applies in the material world. In the spiritual world, everyone is pure. The Supreme Personality of Godhead and His associates are all completely pure, and when we go back home, back to Godhead, we will also be completely pure, and everything will be very blissful and peaceful and harmonious.

One morning, during breakfast prasādam in the Boston temple after I joined, somehow I was thinking of Rupa Gosvami., I had no idea why because I had almost no idea who Rupa Gosvami was, but I said to Satsvarupa Maharaja, who was the Temple President that I was feeling very wretched, and I just asked him, “I feel so wretched and fallen,” because I would always pray for Rupa Gosvami’s mercy, “How could Rupa Gosvami, is he going to want me back to Godhead?” And Satsvarupa Maharaja replied, “He sees you are very nice, and he wants you to come back to Godhead.”

So this is the nature of great souls, of pure devotees. They see the good in others. They see the true nature of everyone which is spiritual. They see that spark of desire to serve Krishna, and they fan it. And that is practically all they see. Sometimes when they engage disciples in service, they have to be attentive to their particular strength and weaknesses and their conditioned existence. But actually, what they really see is the soul. They see that the soul is the person and they see the body as a dress. Like the Bhagavad-gītā says, they don’t consider the dress so important, what is important is the person.

Once we were with Srila Prabhupada in a hill station, in Maharashtra called Panchgani, which is near Mahabaleshwar. There is a wealthy family from Pune, named the Malhotras, and they had a home in Panchgani and some property that they wanted to offer to Srila Prabhupada. So they invited Srila Prabhupada, and Prabhupada was such a preacher. I actually saw it there. There was no one to preach to because there was just the family and the disciples. But sometimes he would just come out into the living room and just sit there waiting for someone of us to preach to. So there were three Malhotra brothers, two were married and the younger one was not married. Anyway, that is another story but he was into some other so-called spiritual leader. So the two married couples they went out, and Prabhupada, after lunch he came and sat down and started to speak to the third brother and few disciples came, and eventually the two couples came back. I do not remember the exact point, but the senior Mrs. Malhotra, she was asking Prabhupada a question, and Prabhupada explained the answer, and she couldn’t quite get it. So she asked again, and Prabhupada explained her again. She still could not get it. Then she asked again, and Prabhupada tried to explain her the third time, but somehow she wasn’t getting it. So then, one of Prabhupada’s servants, who was with them, said something like, “Well she is a woman.” He said to Prabhupada, “She is a woman so she might not get it.” And I was looking at Srila Prabhupada’s face, not just for that statement, that was what I was doing. I was looking at Prabhupada’s face and it seemed liked he was startled by that comment. Because it was just apparent that he was not thinking of her as a woman, he was just seeing her as a soul. So hearing that comment, it jarred him, calling attention of something he wasn’t conscious of.

So that is our nature. We are spirit souls and part and parcels of Krishna. And, therefore, He is our father and He and His associates in the spiritual world are our family. That is our actual identity and, therefore, the spiritual world is our real home because that is where our real family lives. And that is where we are meant to live eternally. The material world is not our home and no matter how we adjust things to be comfortable and happy here, it is never our home, and there will always be pin pricks of material existence—birth, death, disease, old age, the threefold miseries. 

And even duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, even if we are satisfied, “Well okay, it is not perfect, but it is okay. I can live in this situation; I can live with that.” But you cannot. You are not allowed to live here forever. Even if you are ready to say, “Well, I can live with that,” meaning it is not ideal, but I can live with that, I can tolerate it. We can’t live with it forever. We are not allowed to. So intelligent people, they are not preoccupied with the temporary existence in the material world, even in the higher planets. These Vedic rituals, karma-kāṇḍa, they are meant to bring prosperity in the present times life, but even more, they are meant to lead one to elevation to higher planets in the next life. But people who are absorbed in that idea, they are less intelligent, as described here dhūmra-dhiyaḥ – less intelligent. And, the Bhagavad-gītā also says, alpa-medhasaḥ, those who worship the demigods, they are less intelligent. And, opposed to alpa-medhasaḥ is su-medhasaḥ – very intelligent- fine intelligence. And those who engage in the saṅkīrtana movement, they are su-medhasaḥ—yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

They are most intelligent.

Once, I was riding with Srila Prabhupada in the back seat of a car. When I think of the silly questions he tolerated from me, it is quite astonishing! But anyway, you know how it is, that you read the philosophy, and I was reading it and taking it very seriously and thinking how to apply it. So I had read how great devotees feel very lowly and fallen, and they consider themselves to be fools. Disciples should always consider themselves to be a fool before the spiritual master. So I said to Srila Prabhupada that, “If we feel that we are fools, then how can we preach?” Prabhupada said, “Who said you are a fool? Devotees are not fools. Devotees are the most intelligent.” And then he quoted from Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Of course, they are intelligent because they appreciate the value of Krishna consciousness, but sometimes we can also feel like we are fools because even though we have been given this knowledge and this process, we don’t take it fully. We still maintain our illusory pursuits for happiness in the material world, looking for other homes. And, sometimes it is very literal. People want to buy a house, and to be able to afford a house, especially in Southern California, costs a lot of money. So they have to work very hard, and in the course of working hard, naturally they have less time for their spiritual culture which is meant to bring them to their real home, their eternal home with Krishna, with their real family.

Of course, if we are in the grihastha ashram, we do have to be responsible to our family members here, to maintain them. But our first responsibility is to deliver them—gurur na sa syāt, pitā na sa syāj. No one should become a guru, a father, a mother, a husband, or any superior relative, unless he can deliver his dependents from repeated birth and death. So that is the ultimate responsibility. But we have other responsibilities, and we do our duty. Devotees are not negligent. They do their duties, but they always keep in mind- the goal.

Prahlada Maharaja referring to materialistic people, ordinary people, says that na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ—that people don’t know. The same phrase is similar na te viduh na vidhusthe. They don’t know what their real self-interest is Everyone is interested within their self-interest, svārtha, but unless you know who your real self is, or what your are real self is, you don’t know what your real self-interest is. If you think you are the body, then you think your self-interest is to pamper the body, or to gratify the senses of the body. But if you know that you are not the body but you are spirit soul, part and parcel of Krishna, then you know that your real interest is to serve Krishna and go back home, back to Godhead. The same example that Srila Prabhupada gave, that the hand is part and parcel of the body, so the real self-interest of the hand is to serve the body or to serve the stomach. If the hand thinks, “Why should I serve the stomach?” Prabhupada gave the example that there is some nice rasagullā, and if the hand thinks, “Why should I feed the stomach? I am doing all the work, and the stomach is getting the benefit.” And the hand tries to absorb the rasagullā directly, it won’t work. It is not how it works. The hand is meant to feed the stomach. And then, when the stomach enjoys, the stomach is fed, then that nourishment and satisfaction just spread throughout the body, throughout the other parts of the body.

I did not make the connection before, but once one a godbrother gave me a very beautiful answer to a very serious question I asked him. This was in 1972 in Juhu, when we were really struggling to get the Juhu Land. It was very austere; we were just living in a hut. There were so many mosquitoes and rats. I might have mentioned on occasion that the Bombay rats, they are not like ordinary rats. They are huge. They are huge! And the devotees would sleep at night on the floor of that hut, it was big in size but it had a tarpaulin roof, a chātāi, straw walls. And the special quality of the Bombay rats, apart from how big they are, is that their teeth are very sharp, and when they bite you, you don’t feel it. So devotees would go to sleep at night on the cement floor that was crumbling, and they would wake up in the morning, and they would see blood beside themselves. But that was the least of it from my point of view. The hard part was dealing with all the enemies, because that was why we were there. We were there for a mission—to get the land and build a temple for Radha-Rasabihari. So for me that was a struggle; being a temple president, even engaging the devotees, I found it difficult. And then dealing with Mr. Nair, I was just in anxiety and misery; pain and misery and anxiety. So I was just waiting for Srila Prabhupada to come, I was just counting the days until he came so I could get some relief. I was just suffering so much.

So finally he came and we were all excited, and we received him. He stayed at a life member’s house nearby because there was no place on the Juhu Land. And the first day went by, the second day, the third day, and I was still suffering. I was still suffering. So I asked Tamal Krishna Goswami, who is my authority—he was the GBC, “How is this, I am doing what Prabhupada wants. I know this is what he wants me to do because he has told me to do it. I am doing what he wants me to do. He has come personally, he is personally present but still I am suffering so much, I am in so much anxiety and misery. How is it possible?” And Tamal Krishna Goswami gave the example and it was a beautiful example, even at that time it really struck me. He said, “It is like you are in a house that is on fire, and the only way to get out of the house is to break open a glass window and jump. So with your hand, you break it open and you jump, but the hand still hurts.” I thought of it and I thought, Wow! That is beautiful. Of course we are part and parcel of Krishna but Srila Prabhupada, the spiritual master, is the representative of Krishna, the transparent medium. So I was thinking yes, in that sense not ontologically, we are part and parcel of Srila Prabhupada, and for the sake of him, he is like the whole and we are like the part, we might have to do something that is painful for the part. But ultimately it is in our interest, because we are part of the whole, and if it is beneficial for the whole, it is beneficial for us as the part. So like that na tena te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ, our real self-interest is to serve Vishnu and Vishnu’s representatives.

There is another story, a little different but since it has come to mind, Srila Prabhupada had a disciple in Bombay named Haridasa, who was Bengali and being Bengali, he had a certain rapport with Srila Prabhupada. He and Lokanath Swami were the first two local devotees to join in Juhu. And Haridasa, he was a rough character. He had actually been in prison. And in prison, it shows you the value of book distribution, in prison, he got a copy of Back to Godhead magazine. And when he saw Srila Prabhupada’s picture, somehow he determined within his heart, “I want to serve this person, I want this person to be my boss.” So when his term ended and he was released, he walked all the way to Juhu from wherever that jail was in Bombay, and he had all his equipment that he used to use to break into people’s houses and open up their safes. “Well, you won’t need that here.” And he became a devotee, and we were such a small family then, and again he was Bengali. He would speak with Prabhupada in Bengali, so they were quite close.

So, years went by, the struggle was going on, and one day Haridasa was so fed up by the end of the day; he had a really rough day, and he went into Srila Prabhupada’s room in Juhu, and he threw his bead bag down on Srila Prabhupada’s desk. He said, “I quit.” And Srila Prabhupada was very compassionate. He was good natured and humorous, but also compassionate. He said, “What happened?” So Haridasa said, “Well, when I went out early in the morning to make life members in the hot sun in Bombay, riding in the train and walking and climbing the stairs and I met so many people, not one person became a life member.” So Srila Prabhupada said, “Don’t worry, when the new temple opens, people will be standing in queue to become life members.” And actually that happened. It wasn’t just that the new temple opened. It is true that the new temple opened. But we also decided, Prabhupada encouraged us, to raise the life membership fees. So we announced, that from such and such date, it is going up. And people were phoning, it was just like that, people were phoning. They wanted to become members before the fee increased. And it was like that; Haridasa would say, “Well, you can come and wait outside my office. When your turn in the queue comes, I will give you the form and sign you up.” But that was just the first part. Then, it really came out. Haridasa said that, “These foreigners, they don’t know how to behave. I go out all day, I work hard all day. They don’t even save prasāda for me.” I think that was what really got to him. It was the last straw.

And Prabhupada answered, “These foreigners, they are the only ones who come forward to help me. Without their help, I couldn’t be doing what I am doing, in India or anywhere in the world.” And then he said, “Sometimes, when you go to milk a cow, the cow gives you a kick, but you tolerate the kick because the cow is giving the milk and you want the milk. So just tolerate. See that they are helping me, they are doing service. Just tolerate.” So that was Prabhupada’s answer. It was interesting. Part of it was that things will get better, just be patient, and the other part was not like that. The other part was, just tolerate; see the good they are doing, see the service they are doing and tolerate.

So, there is very wonderful verse and the purport from the Secondventh Canto that I thought to share with you, very much on the subject of home. I will just read it. It is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Eight: “Questions by King Parīkṣit,” Text Six.

TEXT 6

A pure devotee of the Lord whose heart has once been cleansed by the process of devotional service never relinquishes the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, for they fully satisfy him, as a traveler is satisfied at home after a troubled journey.

COMMENT

There is a beautiful purport, but I will just come to the part about coming home.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The example set herein is very appropriate. A traveler leaves home to search for wealth in far distant places, sometimes in the forest and sometimes on the ocean and sometimes on hilltops. Certainly there are many troubles for the traveler when he is in such unknown places. But all such troubles are at once mitigated as soon as the sense of his family affection is remembered, and as soon as he returns home he forgets all such troubles on the way.

A pure devotee of the Lord is exactly in a family tie with the Lord, and therefore he is undeterred in discharging his duty in a full affectionate tie with the Lord.

COMMENT

So there is two parts to this answer. The first is that; say that the husband is troubled because he has gone out from the village to find wealth for the family. It is very common in India, that the husband will go to the city, and leave his wife and children with his family, the family elders in the village, and he will go to the city. And there, he might be a pulling a rickshaw, or he might be sleeping on the footpath, and just eating some dry chickpeas, but out of his little earnings, he is sending the majority back to his family in the village. But when he thinks of his family, he is sleeping on the footpath, he is just eating dry chickpeas, but when he thinks of his family, when he thinks of his young child, that that the money he is sending, that child is getting milk, that he would never dream of having for himself, that child is getting milk and growing strong and healthy, he feels satisfied even though externally, the conditions are difficult. And sometimes, we would feel that with as Srila Prabhupada, that even though externally the conditions were difficult but internally, we would feel satisfied. We knew that we were serving him, we were doing it for him. If a situation is very comfortable, you might wonder, Am I here because it is comfortable, or am I here for service? But when it is uncomfortable, you know that it is for service and thinking of that makes you blissful.

I remember one time in Calcutta, it was during the monsoon season, and I don’t know now but then, there was no drainage system in Calcutta. There was in some parts, very inadequate, but basically what happened is that when it would really pour down rain, the rain would just build up and get higher and higher until it stopped raining. Some of it might be going down in the gutter, into the sewer but a small fraction. So this one day, and I had gone really far in North Calcutta, the temple was in South Calcutta. It was pouring, pouring, pouring, and the rain was first foot deep, then ankle deep. It was right on the side of the road, it might have changed now, but as it is, a lot of Indians weren’t that motivated to make money. Like Prabhupada would say, they are very motivated for spiritual life, millions would flock to the Khumba-mela and do austerities, live on the sand and get up early in the morning and take bath in the freezing water. So for their spiritual advancement, they weren’t lazy. You will see them in Vrindavan doing daṇḍavat parikramā at Govardhana Hill. But when it came to ordinary, worldly success, they weren’t that interested. And especially on a rainy night, where the water was, there were no taxis. They would probably close the windows and took rest.

And then I just started walking. There was no way I could have walked the whole distance, but I had nothing else to do, there were no cars coming by. Once in a while, a car would pass. Even once or twice a taxi would pass, completely full, just wading its way through the water. But I was thinking, Why am I doing this? I am doing this for Srila Prabhupada, There is no other reason I would been in that situation, and thinking that, I felt blissful. I actually felt blissful. It wasn’t cold. It was pleasant in a way to be soaking wet. But the real pleasure was thinking that I am here for my guru Maharaja, I am here to serve his mission, and I actually felt blissful. But then the real relief as, Prabhupada says, the real relief, the complete relief comes when you are actually returned back home, back to Godhead. And then all the troubles that you faced on the way are forgotten.

Once a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada that, “When we enter the spiritual world, will we recognize you?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes.” And the disciple asked, “Will we remember our previous lives in the material world?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “You will remember it, but it will be like a nightmare. It is like you wake up from a nightmare, you remember it, but you don’t really want to think about it too much. You know you had a nightmare, you remember what happened but you really don’t want to think about it too much, because it is a nightmare, it wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t real, it was just something that was in your mind.” So yes, we should keep our attention focused on our goal, on our real home. And of course, we do want ISKCON, like that astrologer said of Prabhupada to build a house that the whole world can live in. We do want it to be a home where people can come and engage in devotional service, and we want to make it as congenial as possible. We want to have a society like Prabhupada said, based on love and trust. But still, it is the material world, and even amongst devotees, there will be conflicts. We can’t help it. Like Prabhupada said that a woman will wear bangles. Now, one bangle isn’t very attractive. When there is two, three, four, that is more attractive. But as soon as there is more than one, they clash.” So Prabhupada said, that is what it is like. Even in the association of devotees, as soon as there is more than one, there is chance of some clash. But we are here in our father’s house to serve the father. So we don’t take these things too so seriously. The famous Canakya shloka that Prabhupada would quote that, “Quarrels between husband and wife, shouldn’t be taken seriously.” It is like the thundering of clouds in a certain season. They make a big noise, but no rain comes. Everyone knows that they just make a big rumble but no rain comes. Or sometimes goats, they lock their horns and push each other, but no one takes it seriously, it is just two goats locking horns.

So in the same way, Prabhupada said that you don’t take the quarrel between husband and wife seriously, because there is no divorce. Prabhupada said that the wife may go around the village complaining anything about the husband, and the husband might complain about her; the wife might complain to her friends about her husband but nobody takes it seriously because there is no divorce. It is just like a loud rumbling of thunder, but no rain comes or locking of horns of goats. There is no consequence to it. So in the same way, there may be some quarrels amongst devotees, don’t take them too so seriously. There is no divorce. This is home, like it or not. We have to accept everyone because this is home. But still, we want to make it as congenial as possible, so people will feel that this is their home, that there is love and affection – prīti. Saḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam where the exchanges of love are manifested.

But as Prabhupada said, “We are not utopians,” Our goal should be unity and diversity. He said that, with the karmis, there is diversity but no unity. Everyone is, competing over the resources of material nature. And so the Mayavadis, they react against this diversity but no unity. They want unity but no diversity. They just want to merge and become one; obliterate all individuality. But as Vaishnavas, we want unity and diversity. We are diverse. We are all individuals. Every individual is unique, but we are united because, we have a common cause—to serve Krishna. We have a common father—Krishna, represented to us by Srila Prabhupada. So this is the Hare Krishna Movement, Hare Krishna family.

I was just about to say, please forgive me for my offences, if I have offended any of you, which I am sure I have. But then I thought again of something else that Srila Prabhupada said. Because once, one disciple asked him that, “I commit so many offences to the other devotees, all the time.” And the rule is that you should approach the devotee whom you have offended and beg for forgiveness. So the disciple said to Srila Prabhupada that, “If I were to do that to every devotee that I offend all the time, I would be spending my whole day, offering obeisances and begging for forgiveness. I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.” So Srila Prabhupada replied, “Well, that is why in the morning after maṅgala-ārati, we offer obeisances to the Vaishnavas. That way, when you offer obeisances to the Vaishnavas early in the morning, you are offering them respect and you are begging them to forgive you for all the offences you committed during the last day. So that is good enough, just go on with your service.”

So yes, I am sure many book distributors have experienced that; going out, facing opposition, facing difficulty. Even if they don’t buy the book, but you feel some bliss, because you are serving Srila Prabhupada. And then when you come home, with all the other devotees, and there is prasāda, and you dance in the kirtan, then you are back home, back to Godhead. Hare Krishna.

Any questions or comments?

Devotee: Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Oh, yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Kanaka Mataji is asking about that statement – no one should become a mother, a father, a husband, a guru unless you can deliver your dependents from birth and death. It sounds impossible, but in the purport Srila Prabhupada says that, no one can go back home, back to Godhead, unless they become pure devotees. So one can discharge one’s duty properly if one becomes a pure devotee. So, that might sound difficult, in a certain definition of pure devotee, like being a self-realized soul on the highest platform of pure devotional service. But Srila Prabhupada said that anyone who is sincerely trying to follow the instructions of his spiritual master, is a pure devotee. In other words, if your life is focused on serving the instructions of the spiritual master and nothing else, even if you are unable to follow the instructions perfectly, but if you are making the effort to follow the instructions, then you are considered a pure devotee. And that is all you can do.

And, as far as your children, up to the age of five, they have no individual responsibility, but after the age of five, they also have their responsibility, and they have their minute independence. Even Krishna, He instructed Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, but at the end He said, ‘yathechchhasi tathā kuru.’ You have heard everything I said, now you deliberate on it and, ‘yathechchhasi tathā kuru,’ now you do what you like. So, Krishna doesn’t interfere with our minute independence. The Guru gives good instruction, still it is up to the disciple to follow them and same with the parents. It is a combination to give good instructions, and we set a good example. And beyond, giving good instructions and setting a good example, we should be patient, we should be affectionate, we should try to make them feel happy and, just give them all the support we can. But ultimately, they do have their minute independence and we can pray also. Praying is very important.

And sometimes we have to be patient. We don’t know what will happen in the future. Like the story of Ajamila. He had very good brahman parents. They trained them him properly. He was engaged in devotional service as a youth, and as you know, he fell down. But at the last moment, he chanted the name of Narayana, and he was reminded of his earlier devotional service. And in the end, he went back home, back to Godhead. So yes, we can try our best. Srila Prabhupada said that if a disciple is not completely successful, the spiritual master will come back to get him. So as a parent, or as husband, are we prepared to do that? It is a very heavy responsibility. But Prabhupada is so munificent, so magnanimous, so powerful, if we just try our best, he will help, and beyond that I don’t know what else we can say or do. And pray that Krishna will hear the prayers of His devotees.

Radhanath Swami Maharaja, would you like to add anything? Brghupati Prabhu?

Brghupati Prabhu: It sounds like from the story that knowing that you are doing what your spiritual master wants you to do, with [Unintelligible 01:01:35] qualification in Krishna consciousness, and how you feel, and describing how you feel. You are suffering but you know exactly what Prabhupada wants you to do, he personally told you to do that, so you are properly situated, and you are disregarding the circumstances. [Unintelligible 01:02:00]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is a good question. We were discussing pure devotees, and Prabhupada said, “Anyone who is sincerely trying to serve the spiritual master is a pure devotee.” So it is like a ripe mango and an unripe mango. They are both mangoes, but a neophyte would be like an unripe mango, and an intermediate would be somewhat ripened, and an advanced devotee would be like a fully ripened mango. So as we mature in devotional service, we should feel more happiness, less misery, less anxiety. But at the same time, Lord Chaitanya felt anxiety for the fallen souls, He felt sorry when He thought of the sufferings of the fallen souls. So that is there, but it is not material; it is spiritual. Separation is also something we can feel materially, but we can also feel spiritually. Because of our impersonal conditioning, I have had a lot of impersonal conditioning, we think spiritual life means no anxiety, but there can be spiritual anxiety or there can be spiritual lamentation for the fallen souls; anxiety for the fallen souls. And I saw in Srila Prabhupada the full range of emotions, the full range of emotions! You would have been surprised. But the center was Krishna; that is the difference, the center was Krishna.

Once in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada heard, and it was true, it turned out to be true, he heard that the construction materials were being stolen. That the son-in-law of the contractor was the store keeper. He was keeping track of all the iron bars and all the different bags of cement and everything, and they had an agreement with their our next- door neighbor. They were throwing the materials over the walls between us and the neighbors and we didn’t even know; I didn’t know. But one of our tenants knew what was happening and wrote to Srila Prabhupada in Nairobi and told him what was happening, and Srila Prabhupada came back to Bombay. He was so upset, he couldn’t eat, and one of devotees said, “Srila Prabhupada, you are not eating.” And Prabhupada said, “How can I eat when Krishna’s property is being stolen?” He put took his mission so seriously, not for sense gratification. We were worried if we are losing our money that we want for our sense gratification; not us but people, but that is how seriously he took it.

Once, we were driving in a car together in Madras. It was really hot and sunny, in the middle of the day, there was quite a big queue of people waiting for the bus on the side of the road, and way more than could fit under the shelter of the bus stand. They are just standing in the heat. And Prabhupada, he actually like got choked up. He said, “Just see how they have to wait in the heat for the bus.” He really was feeling for them. But he directed his concern for them in Krishna consciousness. He did not say, “Alright, let’s take up a petition now to have more frequent buses or bigger bus stands, but he knew that ultimately all their problems would be solved when they go back home, back to Godhead. And so he put his energy into that mission. But he had the feeling, he had the full range of feelings. But still he was also like the ocean, who wasn’t disturbed, who wasn’t disturbed in the sense that he was fixed in Krishna consciousness. He was fixed in his relationship with Krishna, his love for Krishna. That way he was fixed but in the ocean, the waves rise and fall, and so different moods would rise and fall—compassion, happiness, joy, anxiety, they would rise and fall, but the ocean was his love for Krishna and service to his spiritual master.

Yes, I was thinking yesterday, when Radhanath Swami gave his beautiful talk about the foundation, that the house has to be built on a strong foundation. So I was thinking, What is my foundation? It is like guru-niṣṭhā—service to the guru. I don’t know if it is that way for everyone because there are other items, but [Unintelligible 1:09:22] this is definitely there. So whatever it is, like this idea again that if you are engaged in devotional service, Brahmā-bhūyāya kalpate, you are beyond the three modes of material nature, but it doesn’t seem like we are. It seems like we are affected by the modes of nature, even though we are engaged in devotional service. So Srila Prabhupada gave the example that, it is like you are in a boat, and because the boat is in the ocean, there are waves in the ocean and the boat might toss and turn, but because you are in the boat, you don’t get wet. Prabhupada did not say this, this is my own little addition, but later on if you become more expert, you can, maybe, navigate a boat in such a way so that there is not so much tossing and turning. So it is transcendental in the sense that you are not affected, you don’t actually get wet but still, you are in the ocean and the boat is rocking and you can feel it. And you might even get sea sick but you don’t jump off the boat, even if you feel like it.

So this is our boat, ISKCON. Prabhupada is the captain of the ship, and if we just stay on the boat, he will take us to the other shore—back home, back to Godhead. Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Devotee: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!