Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival in America

Giriraj Swami: Today is a most auspicious occasion. It is the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in America. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! We shall have a special class and within the class we shall focus on a poem that Srila Prabhupada wrote in Bengali on the ship Jaladuta just before he arrived in America.

The arrival of Srila Prabhupada in America and what happened after he arrived is of great historical significance and it is also of personal significance to all of us because all of us have been touched by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy directly and indirectly through his temples, through his books, through his devotees, through the Deities he installed, through the festivals he inaugurated in the West. We’ve all come to our present position by his mercy, but he himself came here out of his mercy, but also on the instructions of his superiors, his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Beyond Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s śikṣā-guru and father, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, had predicted that very soon a great personality will come who will bring the teachings of Lord Chaitanya and the chanting of the holy names of Krishna all over the world and that devotees from different countries of the world would join together with the Bengali devotees and chant “Jaya Sacinandana; Hare Krishna; Haribol.”

Before Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had predicted: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma that, “In every town and village of every country of the world My name (or Krishna’s name) will be preached.” It is also recorded in a book by Locana dasa Thakura that Krishna had predicted that His name would be spread all over the world. And when He was asked how it will happen, Lord Krishna replied that He would send His senapati-bhakta, commanding general, the devotee who is the commander-in-chief of the devotees, and he would deliver the people who were trying to escape the loving network of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

So there is a great transcendental plan behind Srila Prabhupada’s coming to America. His coming was the fulfillment of the desires and predictions of the Supreme Lord Himself, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the previous acharyas, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and others. 

Even some of Srila Prabhupada’s learned godbrothers admitted that when they read the verse: pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma, they thought that it was metaphorical or a sort of devotional outpouring of sentiment—not a literal prediction. They could not imagine how it was possible that people in every town and village of every country in the world could actually chant the holy name of Krishna. They could not imagine it. Even Srila Prabhupada himself had his doubts. When he was crossing the Atlantic on the Jaladuta he himself had doubts whether people in the West who were so covered by the modes of passion and ignorance could appreciate the message of Krishna consciousness.

Last night I happened to hear a talk that Srila Prabhupada gave on the Bhagavad-gītā, a talk on the first verse of the Sixteenth Chapter. It was very interesting because he wanted the disciples to discuss the verse among themselves and with him. The Sixteenth Chapter discusses the divine and demoniac qualities and in the discussion devotees expressed the idea that people in the West really are possessed by demoniac qualities being influenced by the lower modes of passion and ignorance. Srila Prabhupada remarked that when he was anticipating coming to America he felt hopeless that how will he ever convince the people of the message of Lord Chaitanya. He said, “Practically speaking we are trying to appeal to animals.” They identify with the body which means that they are on the platform of animals—dharmeṇa hīnāḥ paśubhiḥ samānāḥ—-that without dharma, without religious principles, a human being is the same as an animal. So he was saying that our job is very difficult because we are approaching people who are like cats and dogs and hogs. 

Badrinarayana Prabhu tells a humorous story that some years ago devotees went out on book distribution to a football game between Arkansas and Georgia and the different teams have their names. The Arkansas Razor Backs, their nickname is The Hogs and they were playing against the Georgia Bulldogs. And the fans, they would identify with one team or the other. So the devotees would approach them with books and say, “Are you a dog or are you a hog?” [laughter] Very happily and proudly they would say, “I am a hog!” or “I am a dog!” [laughter]

In all seriousness Srila Prabhupada was explaining how difficult our task is because we are approaching people who are like dogs and hogs. So he said they shouldn’t be disappointed if people don’t take to Krishna consciousness. “You should just keep in mind that you are preaching to people who are like dogs and hogs.” And then he mentioned that in a mood of disappointment he had written the poem on the Jaladuta about the people in America that he was going to meet, so covered by the modes of passion and ignorance, and so addicted to sinful activities, and he was thinking, “Here I am, a beggar from India. I have no money, an old man, and here are these people who are very proud of their material advancement and very attached to their sense gratification and I’m going to tell them to give up eating meat, fish, and eggs; to give up illicit sex; to give up taking intoxicants, even coffee, tea, and cigarettes; and give up gambling. What will they think? They will say, ‘Swamiji, we don’t want to hear this. Go back to where you came from.’”

So Srila Prabhupada took his mission very seriously because it was ordered by his superiors but at the same time he thought that the assignment would be almost impossible to fulfill and he couldn’t conceive of how he would be able to succeed and in that mood of helplessness he composed two poems, one on September 13th, 1965 while the Jaladuta was still at sea, but coming close just a few days away from port, and then on September 18th when the Jaladuta was docked.

I have requested Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu to sing this beautiful song, Kṛṣṇa Taba Puṇya Habe Bhāi. It is called, Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krishna, written by Srila Prabhupada on board the ship Jaladuta.

Kṛṣṇa Taba Puṇya Habe Bhāi

kṛṣṇa taba puṇya habe bhāi
e-puṇya koribe jabe rādhārāṇī khusī habe
dhruva ati boli tomā tāi

śrī-siddhānta saraswatī,   śacī-suta priya ati,
kṛṣṇa-sebāya jāra tula nāi
sei se mohānta-guru,   jagater madhe uru,
kṛṣṇa-bhakti dey ṭhāi ṭhāi

tāra icchā balavān,   pāścātyete ṭhān ṭhān,
hoy jāte gaurāṅger nām
pṛthivīte nagarādi,   āsamudra nada nadī,
sakalei loy kṛṣṇa nām

tāhale ānanda hoy,   tabe hoy dig-vijay,
caitanyer kṛpā atiśay
māyā duṣṭa jata duḥkhī,   jagate sabāi sukhī,
vaiṣṇaver icchā pūrṇa hoy

se kārja je koribāre,   ājñā jadi dilo more,
jogya nahi ati dīna hīna
tāi se tomāra kṛpā,   māgitechi anurūpā,
āji tumi sabār pravīṇa

tomāra se śakti pele,   guru-sebāya bastu mile,
jībana sārthak jadi hoy
sei se sevā pāile,   tāhale sukhī hale,
taba saṅga bhāgyate miloy

evaṁ janaṁ nipatitaṁ prabhavāhi-kūpe
kāmābhi kāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgāt
kṛtvātmasāt surarṣiṇā bhagavan gṛhītaḥ
so ‘haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām

tumi mor cira sāthī,   bhuliyā māyār lāthi,
khāiyāchi janma-janmāntare
āji punaḥ e sujoga,   jadi hoy jogājoga,
tube pāri tuhe milibāre

tomāra milane bhāi,   ābār se sukha pāi,
gocārane ghuri din bhor
kata bane chuṭāchuṭi,   bane khāi luṭāpuṭi,
sei din kabe babe mor

āji se subidhāne,   tomāra smaraṇa bhela,
baro āśā ḍākilām tāi
āmi tomāra nitya-dāsa,   tāi kori eta āśa,
tumi binā anya gati nāi

Thank you, Baladeva Prabhu, for that beautiful rendition of Srila Prabhupada’s beautiful poem. I will read the translation. First I will read the Introduction to this song from the book Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas:

Friday, September 10, 1965, the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Srila Prabhupada, on a Steamer bound for America, wrote in his ship diary: 

“Today the ship is plying very smoothly. I feel today better. But I am feeling separation of Sri Vrindavan and my Lords Sri Govinda, Gopinatha, Radha-Damodara. The only solace is Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta in which I am tasting the nectarine of Lord Chaitanya’s līlā. I have left Bharat Bhumi just to execute the order of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in pursuance of Lord Chaitanya’s order. I have no qualification, but I have taken up the risk just to carry out the order of His Divine Grace. I depend fully on Their mercy so far away from Vrindavan.”

Three days later, in this mood of pure devotion, His Divine Grace composed the following prayer.

PRAYER

(1) I emphatically say to you, O brothers, you will obtain your good fortune from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa only when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī becomes pleased with you.

(2) Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who is very dear to Lord Gaurāṅga, the son of mother Śacī, is unparalleled in his service to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is that great, saintly spiritual master who bestows intense devotion to Kṛṣṇa at different places throughout the world.

COMMENT

I will comment as we proceed. The striking point in the first stanza is that Srila Prabhupada refers to his spiritual master, “who bestows devotion to Krishna at different places throughout the world.” From the external point of view devotion to Krishna or Krishna consciousness had not yet been spread beyond the boundaries in India, but Srila Prabhupada is seeing that his spiritual master is bestowing intense devotion to Krishna at different places throughout the world. In other words, he saw his spiritual master as the dear devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who would actually fulfill Lord Chaitanya’s desire and prediction and he saw himself as the instrument or he was praying to become the instrument in the distribution of that mercy.

PRAYER (continued)

(3) By his strong desire, the holy name of Lord Gaurāṅga will spread throughout all the countries of the Western world. In all the cities, towns, and villages on the earth, from all the oceans, seas, rivers, and streams, everyone will chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

Again Srila Prabhupada is foreseeing the fulfillment of the desire and prediction of Lord Chaitanya and the previous acharyas through the strong desire of his spiritual master and again he sees himself as an instrument or he prays to be an instrument in the execution of that desire.

PRAYER (continued)

(4) As the vast mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu conquers all directions, a flood of transcendental ecstasy will certainly cover the land. When all the sinful, miserable living entities become happy, the Vaiṣṇavas’ desire is then fulfilled.

COMMENT

Here Srila Prabhupada explains a little more about the desire of his spiritual master. His desire was that people chant the holy name of Gauranga and give up their sinful, miserable lives and become happy. Srila Prabhupada often quoted Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s appreciation of Srila Sanatana Gosvami that he was para-duḥkha-duḥkhī, that he felt sorry in the sorrow of others. He said this is a Vaishnava; he is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. He feels sad in the sadness of others and conversely he feels happy when others are happy and he knows that the only way that people can really become happy is if they give up their sinful activities because the result of sinful activities is sinful reactions that produce miser. If they take to Krishna consciousness it will give them a higher taste of real happiness. So that is the desire of the Vaishnava.

Before Srila Prabhupada left for America he was staying at the Scindia Colony at Nanderi which is near Juhu. It was a housing society for employees of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company. One of the officers befriended Srila Prabhupada. The proprietor of the company gave Srila Prabhupada an apartment there where he could stay. So the officer joked with Srila Prabhupada that, “I know why you want to go to America. You want to enjoy [sense gratification]. They all want to go to America to enjoy.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “What have I got to enjoy? My life is finished but there is a whole generation of youth there who are confused and unhappy and I want to try and do something for them. I want them to become happy.” 

So that is the mood of the Vaishnava and the desire of the Vaishnava to see others are happy.

PRAYER (continued)

(5) Although my Guru Mahārāja ordered me to accomplish this mission, I am not worthy or fit to do it. I am very fallen and insignificant. Therefore, O Lord, now I am begging for Your mercy so that I may become worthy, for You are the wisest and most experienced of all.

COMMENT

In a mood of abject humility Srila Prabhupada is seeing the enormity of the task ahead of him and feeling himself unworthy, fallen, and insignificant, how could he accomplish such a feat. He sees that by his own strength or power it is not possible. It is only possible if the Lord gives him His mercy. And then he will be able to take up this impossible work. 

He refers to the Lord as the “wisest and most experienced of all.” The Lord, He really understands every living entity from the core of the heart and therefore He can empower Srila Prabhupada in such a way that his words will enter into the deepest recesses of people’s hearts and purify them and change them.

PRAYER (continued)

(6) If You bestow Your power, by serving the spiritual master one attains the Absolute Truth – one’s life becomes successful. If that service is obtained, then one becomes happy and gets Your association due to good fortune.

COMMENT

We read in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta: guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja that by the mercy of the spiritual master and Krishna, one gets the seed of devotional service, and in the purport Srila Prabhupada explains by the mercy of Krishna one gets a spiritual master and by the mercy of the spiritual master the disciple is trained in such a way that he obtains Krishna. Here Srila Prabhupada elaborates on the point. He says that by service to the spiritual master one’s life becomes successful and one gains the association of Lord Krishna, but one’s service to the spiritual master is successful only when one gets the mercy and potency to serve and preach from Krishna. So again the two work together—the spiritual master and Krishna—and Srila Prabhupada showed his deep faith in both of them.

Once Srila Prabhupada asked a disciple, “What is the most important verse in the Vedic scriptures?” His disciple replied, “Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalua nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyathā.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ,” that one who has implicit faith in both Krishna and the spiritual master, to him all the imports of the Vedas are revealed. So Srila Prabhupada considered that the most important verse. It actually comes as the last verse in the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad, the conclusion of the knowledge in the whole Śvetāśvatara Upanishad.

So Srila Prabhupada had faith that if Krishna empowered him, he would be able to execute the order of the spiritual master, he would be able to properly serve the spiritual master, and by his service to his spiritual master and the blessings of his spiritual master, he would obtain the association of Krishna.

Now this poem was written in the mood of separation. We read it in Srila Prabhupada’s diary and Srila Prabhupada himself will say so later in the poem that Srila Prabhupada was in the mood of separation from Krishna and his longing for the association of Krishna is based on an intense desire to serve Krishna. People may have a desire to go back to Godhead but that desire could be tainted by the desire for liberation. When one doesn’t want to suffer in the material world any longer so he or she wants to go back to Godhead, but Srila Prabhupada’s desire here is not to go back to Godhead for the sake of his own sense gratification or liberation from material miseries but because he loves Krishna and he feels separation from Him and he wants to serve Him. But he is convinced that that opportunity for associating with Krishna and serving Krishna directly will come from his service to his spiritual master.

And then he quotes in Sanskrit as part of this poem from Prahlada’s Prayers to Nṛsiṁhadeva, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.9.28). I will read the Sanskrit:

PRAYER (continued)

evaṁ janaṁ nipatitaṁ prabhavāhi-kūpe
kāmābhikāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgāt
kṛtvātmasāt surarṣiṇā bhagavan gṛhītaḥ
so ‘haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām

(7) My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?

COMMENT

This is a very deep verse. Srila Prabhupada has explained that the body is like a deep well and the soul who is the actual living being has fallen into the deep well of this body and is surrounded by dangerous snakes and the dangerous snakes are the senses. So it is a very dangerous position, a very precarious position. Of course material existence is like a deep well and the spiritual master sends us the ropes of his mercy, the ropes of his instruction to lift us out of this deep well. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami considered that he was trapped in the deep well of household life and that Srila Sanatana Gosvami had extended the ropes of his mercy, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ultimately had extended the ropes of His mercy to lift him out of the deep well. Here Prahlada says that, “I have achieved this transcendental position,” where he is seeing Nṛsiṁhadeva face to face—he is seeing the Lord face to face—but he is saying that he has achieved this transcendental position by the mercy of his spiritual master, Narada Muni. Therefore he says his first duty is to serve his spiritual master and then he says, “How could I ever leave his service?” In other words even when one sees the Lord face to face, one still remains the servant of the spiritual master. One never comes to the stage where he thinks, “Oh, now I can serve Krishna directly and I don’t have to serve my spiritual master.” But one serves both together eternally.

Once Srila Prabhupada was walking in Mayapur and the disciples came to an embankment along the way. So one disciple, Bhavananda Prabhu, he went ahead of Srila Prabhupada and climbed up the embankment and then he extended his hand to Srila Prabhupada to help him to climb up. And then when Prabhupada got up to the top he very abruptly took his hand out of Bhavananda’s hand and just marched ahead without any regard for Bhavananda Prabhu. So Bhavananda was upset. He thought maybe he had done something wrong and that Srila Prabhupada was upset with him. And then Srila Prabhupada explained that he was just showing the attitude of impersonalists, Mayavadis. Their idea is to take help from the spiritual master, to reach a certain position, but then when they have reached the position they want, then they feel they have no use for the spiritual master anymore. They have come to the level that he was on and they can leave him behind. So Srila Prabhupada was saying this is Mayavada idea, not Vaishnava.

The purport to this verse is extraordinarily beautiful. It is not too long and on this auspicious occasion I will also read the purport:

[SB 7.9.28]

My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

As will be seen in later verses, even though Prahlāda Mahārāja was directly offered all the benedictions he might have desired, he refused to accept such offerings from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, he asked the Lord to engage him in the service of His servant Nārada Muni. This is the symptom of a pure devotee. One should serve the spiritual master first. It is not that one should bypass the spiritual master and desire to serve the Supreme Lord. This is not the principle for a Vaiṣṇava. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says:

tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vāsa

janame janame haya, ei abhilāṣa

One should not be anxious to offer direct service to the Lord. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised that one become a servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord (gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ). This is the process for approaching the Supreme Lord. The first service should be rendered to the spiritual master so that by his mercy one can approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead to render service. While teaching Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja: one can achieve the seed of devotional service by the mercy of the guru, the spiritual master, and then by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. This is the secret of success. First one should try to please the spiritual master, and then one should attempt to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also says, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo. One should not attempt to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by concoction. One must first be prepared to serve the spiritual master, and when one is qualified he is automatically offered the platform of direct service to the Lord. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja proposed that he engage in the service of Nārada Muni. He never proposed that he engage directly in the service of the Lord. This is the right conclusion. Therefore he said, so ‘haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām: “How can I give up the service of my spiritual master, who has favored me in such a way that I am now able to see You face to face?” Prahlāda Mahārāja prayed to the Lord that he might continue to engage in the service of his spiritual master, Nārada Muni.

COMMENT

Now Srila Prabhupada continues:

PRAYER (continued)

(8) O Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are my eternal companion. Forgetting You, I have suffered the kicks of māyā birth after birth. If today the chance to meet You occurs again, then I will surely be able to rejoin You.

COMMENT

Of course this is Srila Prabhupada’s mood and it is also our philosophical conclusion: kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare, that when the living entity forgets Krishna and desires to enjoy apart from Krishna, he comes under the control of maya and is forced to suffer. So here Srila Prabhupada, identifying himself as a conditioned soul, is addressing Lord Krishna, “You are my eternal companion but I have forgotten You (kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva) and have suffered the kicks of maya birth after birth.” But in that mood of separation he is praying, “If today the chance to meet You occurs again, then I will surely be able to rejoin You.” In other words, the mood of selfless service to the spiritual master is giving rise to feelings of separation from Krishna and the feelings of separation from Krishna will propel one in devotional service to the point when, by the mercy of the spiritual master and Krishna, one gets the opportunity for direct service.

PRAYER (concluded)

(9) O dear friend, in Your company I will experience great joy once again. In the early morning I will wander about the cowherd pastures and fields. Running and frolicking in the many forests of Vraja, I will roll on the ground in spiritual ecstasy. Oh, when will that day be mine?

(10) Today that remembrance of You came to me in a very nice way. Because I have a great longing I called to You. I am Your eternal servant, and therefore I desire Your association so much. O Lord Kṛṣṇa, except for You there is no other means of success.

So the ship continued. On September 17, 1965, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrived in Boston on board the ship Jaladuta, carrying within his heart the orders of his spiritual master to spread the teachings of Sri Chaitanya beyond the borders of India, throughout the entire world. As he looked out upon Boston’s bleak and dirty skyline, he could understand the difficulty of his sacred mission and felt great compassion for these godless people. Thus, with perfect humility, he composed this historic prayer in Bengali, praying for the deliverance of all fallen souls.

COMMENT

This mood of compassion was very strong in Srila Prabhupada and when I heard the conversation he had yesterday with the disciples—it was a class but Prabhupada wanted it to be a discussion and they were reading about the divine and demoniac qualities—Srila Prabhupada was saying how for the sake of money they do so many things and go to hell. But when I heard Srila Prabhupada speaking, I could sense the deep compassion he had and later on he went on to use the usual epithets—fool, rascal, and others—but when he said that, “get money and go to hell,” I could feel how he was feeling for the people that they were going to hell. It is a very poignant moment but he could see they were madly working to get money and going to hell and that was pretty sad—people were going to hell.

That was the mood of Prahlada Maharaja. In his prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, towards the end he describes that there are many saintly persons—prāyeṇa deva munayaḥ sva-vimukti-kāmā—-but most of them desire their own liberation and they go to the mountains and jungles and perform austerities and they avoid the big cities and towns because they are concerned with their own liberation. but Prahlada says, “I am not like them. I do not want to go back home, back to Godhead alone, but I want to take as many of these poor fools and rascals with me as possible. Therefore I am always thinking of how to deliver them.” And that was Srila Prabhupada’s mood. He was relishing in Vrindavan but he left it out of compassion for the poor souls—that is us. 

So I will just read the translation. I wouldn’t comment too much. I will just maybe read one or two of the verses. Those who are on my mailing list would have gotten this in the morning.

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at Boston Harbor, September 18, 1965

(3) Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vāsudeva. I do not know how they will be able to understand it.

(4) But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible, because You are the most expert mystic.

(5) How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.

(6) All living entities have come under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion.

COMMENT

This verse is a paraphrase of a verse by the Personified Vedas in which they pray to the Lord that, “By your will the living entities have come under the illusory energy and similarly by Your will You can release them.” 

This verse has a little special significance for me because in my initiation letter Srila Prabhupada wrote that, he began by quoting not the Bengali but the English translation: guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja, that, “The living entities are rotating in different species of life on different planetary systems and only someone who is very fortunate comes to appreciate the value of Krishna consciousness.” And then Srila Prabhupada wrote, “So I marked it in your presence when I met you in Boston and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul understands the value of Krishna consciousness.” 

In this prayer to Lord Krishna, he saying the same thing. He is praying to Krishna and then in the next verse he is saying:

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(7) I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.

COMMENT

This is the process or part of the process that the spiritual master presents the message of Krishna but he constantly prays to Krishna. He prays to Krishna to make his words suitable for the understanding of his audience and he prays to Krishna to release the prospective devotee from illusion, to release him from the modes of nature. But how does he release him? He releases him by making him aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness. He releases them by giving them faith and conviction in the message of Krishna that they have heard from the spiritual master. 

So at every step Srila Prabhupada or any bona fide spiritual master, a Vaishnava, feels himself completely helpless and dependent on the mercy of his spiritual master and ultimately Krishna, and he prays to them to make his words suitable for his audience, and he also prays to them to give mercy to his audience to loosen the grip of maya on them so that they can appreciate the message of Krishna which will ultimately, following the instructions of the spiritual master, bring them to the stage of complete liberation from material bondage and ultimately to the stage where they can render direct service to Krishna.

Then he says:

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(8) The words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives it with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message.

COMMENT

The mood of dependence continues because the words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam themselves are Krishna. So when the spiritual master repeats the message of Krishna, he is actually giving the disciple Krishna in the form of transcendental sound. So Srila Prabhupada is praying to Krishna to enter their hearts through their ears in the form of transcendental sound and to purify their hearts and enlighten them with transcendental knowledge. He quotes a series of verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam but one in particular is relevant to the verse we’ve just read:

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

“Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.”

So the process of cleaning the heart is impossible for any living entity to achieve. It is possible only if the Lord Himself helps him and takes up the work. So here Srila Prabhupada quotes Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām, that when someone hears the messages of Krishna, Krishna who is situated within the heart as the well-wisher of the devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from within the heart.

There are many verses in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Other places confirm the same principle that we cannot clean the heart just by our own endeavors but it is really Krishna who cleans it. And in Prahlada’s Prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva in the Fifth Canto, he prays to the Lord that, “Just as You killed the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu with Your long nails, please kill the demonlike desires for material enjoyment within our hearts.”

So we should pray to the Lord in that way to kill our demonlike desires, our materialistic propensities, our anarthas, our offenses. And if we are sincere and if we serve the pure devotee and if we give submissive, oral reception to the messages of Krishna received from the devotees, the Lord within the heart will help.

Then Srila Prabhupada quotes the next verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu

nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā

bhagavaty uttama-śloke

bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

“By regularly hearing the Bhāgavatam and rendering service unto the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is practically destroyed, and loving service unto the glorious Lord, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.”

Srila Prabhupada quoted this verse to me. It was in Calcutta in 1971 at a time when Srila Prabhupada had us all so busily engaged in service to the mission in India. In the beginning we hardly had time to chant our rounds and I at least did not have time to read and I felt bad that I didn’t have time to read. I didn’t say anything to Srila Prabhupada but on his own he quoted this verse. I was just sitting in his room in front of him and he quoted this verse and he said that, “By serving the person bhāgavata or by reading the book Bhāgavata you get the same result.” And then he said, “Even if you never read the book Bhāgavata but if you just serve the person bhāgavata, all the truths of the book Bhāgavata will be revealed in your heart.” So he was encouraging me to continue in his service.

Then Srila Prabhupada says:

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(11) How will I make them understand this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.

(13) O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your message, so if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada is saying he can only repeat the message of Krishna but there is a way to repeat it and Prabhupada prays to Krishna to give him the power to speak in a way that is suitable to the audience. So yes, Prabhupada always said his only qualification is that he repeated the instructions of his spiritual master, repeated the message of Krishna: yāre dekha, tare kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśaāmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa, that one becomes a spiritual master, how? By repeating the message of Krishna. But here he is praying to Krishna to make his words suitable for the understanding of his listeners, not just repeating any which way but in a way that they can understand the message and appreciate it.

Then he goes further:

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(14) Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure…

COMMENT

Now he is praying for purity that there should be no material taint when he repeats the message of Krishna.

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(14). . . I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts, they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life.

COMMENT

And this, going back to his earlier prayer, will make the Vaishnava happy. This is the Vaishnava’s desire that people should be liberated from all miserable conditions and become happy in Krishna consciousness.

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(15) O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.

(16) I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta…

COMMENT

Bhakti means “devotion” and Veda means “knowledge” and anta means “end.” So Bhaktivedanta means “knowledge and devotion, the conclusion of all knowledge” which is devotion.

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (continued)

(16) …I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now, if You like, You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta.

COMMENT

So this is very nice. He was given the name Bhaktivedanta but he prays to the Lord to actually fulfill the purport in the name. Those of us who have been initiated, we have been given beautiful names—So-and-so dasi, Radha dasi or Krishna dasi, or So-and-so dasa, Krishna dasa or Hari dasa—these are very beautiful names, very exalted names, but just being initiated and being given the name doesn’t mean we fulfill the real purport of the name that we’ve been given. We have to sincerely desire it and strive for it and pray for it. Srila Prabhupada here is setting the example for us by praying so sincerely.

Mārkine Bhāgavata-dharma (concluded)

Signed – the most unfortunate,
insignificant beggar
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,
on board the ship Jaladuta,
Commonwealth Pier,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
dated 18th of September, 1965

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Are there any questions or comments?

Misra Bhagavān dasa: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: Misra Bhagavān is posing a very interesting question that the living entity always has freewill but here Srila Prabhupada is praying to Lord Krishna to make the living entities turn away from their sinful ways and some to Krishna consciousness. Does that mean that Srila Prabhupada is praying to Krishna to take away the freewill of the living entities?

Krishna is independent (svarāṭ). He has freewill and the living entities also have freewill. Srila Prabhupada also has freewill. So Srila Prabhupada is exercising his freewill and praying to Krishna and when Krishna hears such an earnest prayer from such a pure devotee. . . of course He has freewill but His nature is such that He will want to fulfill the desire of His pure devotee. So Krishna will make the power of Srila Prabhupada’s words suitable for the audience. He will make Prabhupada’s words completely pure. They were completely pure. He will make Prabhupada’s words suitable for the understanding of his audience and from within the heart He will encourage the living entity to accept the words of Srila Prabhupada. But still the living entity has his freewill. He can still be adamant and refuse. Srila Prabhupada did what was impossible. He did deliver people who were very fallen but not everyone who heard his message accepted it. Some did but not all. And that depended on their freewill. That depended on their choice.

I think of a story. Srila Prabhupada was on a flight. On the flight he ate some puffed rice. It was packed in some aluminum foil. After he had finished eating it he passed on his remnants to his two assistants who were with them. So the one next to him was Srutakirti and then beyond him was the third one and Srutakirti gave some to the third one and then he kept a portion in the aluminum foil. Just then an air hostess came by and she saw the puffed rice—Prabhupada’s mahā-mahā-prasāda—and she put her hand into the aluminum foil and grabbed the puffed rice and ate it which is very unusual for an air hostess. I am sure it is against their rules but she did it. 

Years and years later—I heard different versions of the story—but years and years later a devotee happened to knock on a door. He didn’t know who was going to be behind the door. He happened to knock on a door and he walked into the house. It was in some remote place maybe in South America and he saw pictures of Prabhupada and Prabhupada’s books everywhere in this very remote place. The lady invited the devotee in. It was very unusual. The devotee asked, “How did this happen?” And she explained that she worked as an air hostess and that so many years ago she had seen Srila Prabhupada on a flight and she had reached her hand into the puffed rice that Prabhupada had eaten and somehow from that beginning she became a devotee.

So it is very hard to say what impulse in her heart led her to do that. That was her freewill. It is very hard to say. Like at Ratha-yatra, I was discussing this with Bhakta Carl that in Los Angeles it is huge. You never end up meeting everyone that you would have wanted to meet. There are just too many people and it is too spread out. People are always moving. It is a very dynamic system. So, someone may be here and you may end up in that place, but by then that person is gone somewhere else. A few years ago I just surrendered, whoever Lord Jagannatha arranges for me to meet, that is who I will meet. And Carl said, ”Yes, you are at a junction and for a moment you are thinking, ‘Should I go right or left,’ and you don’t know why you just go right and you meet someone and if you had gone left you would have met someone else and not the other person.”

But if someone is sincere Krishna will arrange. If someone is not sincere we still try to give them exposure. Even if they are not ready to accept the message we still try to expose them to Krishna consciousness in festivals like Ratha-yatra. They will take prasāda. They don’t know what it is really but they take prasāda. They see Lord Jagannatha. They don’t really know who He is but if they see Him, take prasāda, hear the holy name, appreciate the devotees, it moves them forward and all these little steps will bring one to the stage where he can actually take the message of Krishna into his heart and follow the process.

If you want to pray—that is the mood of a pure devotee—you can pray to Krishna, “Take over my freewill. I don’t want to misuse my freewill anymore. I have misused it enough and now I am in maya and I am getting kicked all the time. I don’t want to be kicked anymore so You take over my freewill.” That is also your freewill if you want to surrender to Krishna.

One of the early devotees, when I joined in Boston, she told me that she would pray to Krishna—this was later—that, “Don’t fulfill any material desires that will take me away from You, that will take me away from Krishna consciousness. And even later if I am covered by illusion and want material things that will come in the way of my devotional service to You, don’t fulfill that desire, don’t fulfill my desire then, but fulfill this desire, fulfill my prayer to You now, which is not to give me any facility that will take me away from You.”

So it really depends on our desire. We have our desires, Krishna has His desires, the spiritual master has his desires.

Rasaraja dasa: You mentioned that the eternal relationship is to always engage in the service of the spiritual master however the acharyas explain that the meaning of the holy names is to ask to be engaged in the service of Krishna and the energy of Krishna. So trying to understand, should we then be praying to actually be engaged in the service of the spiritual master or are those two different desires or are they one and the same? 

I had a second question which is basically when you explain the meaning of the maha-mantra to someone who has absolutely no idea about Krishna consciousness especially in a scenario where it is a secular crowd, secular audience, they do not necessarily want to hear anything about God, but they are open to actually listening to Gītā, how would you explain the meaning of the maha-mantra in this case?

Giriraj Swami: The first question, when we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we are praying to Krishna and the Lord and the energy of the Lord. So the spiritual master is included. Praying to Krishna and Radharani for service doesn’t exclude Their associates and other servants. They are included. It goes without saying. 

As far as how to explain the meaning of the mantra to a secular audience who don’t want to hear about God, you can explain it how you appreciate it yourself. I mentioned this that once Tripurari, the famous book distributor, he was distributing books and telling people, “These books tell you how to live in harmony with nature and how to realize your full potential.” So some devotees thought he wasn’t really being straightforward about what the books say that he wasn’t really presenting them the way Prabhupada did. So there was some controversy and finally some disciples approached Srila Prabhupada and told him what Tripurari was saying and Prabhupada replied, “That is exactly what I say except he said it in a sweeter way like a suka.” So you can say, “Chanting this mantra will help you to live in harmony with nature or realize your true inner being.” You can say that and Prabhupada said it is exactly what he says. [laughter]

Devotee: Maharaja, referring back to Misra Bhagavān Prabhu’s question, I guess I have some fear that I might ask Krishna, “Please get rid of the desires in my heart,” but Krishna will see that they really are desires and I am really attached to them and He might say, “I am not going to take them away because he doesn’t really want to get relieved of them.” How is it that we can somehow or the other convince Krishna that really we want to get rid of them even though we want to keep them? They are desires, they are my desires, but I realize it would be better if I get rid of them. Nonetheless I am still attached to them. So what is going to keep Krishna from saying, “You got them. You want them. You can keep them,” instead of getting rid of them for me?

Giriraj Swami: If you sincerely want to become free from material desires even though they are your desires, but it is like Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu says that we as living souls have decided to become devotees, but our minds which are conditioned to desiring sense gratification haven’t decided to become devotees. Our minds have a certain habitual way of desiring sense gratification which has become habitual for years and decades and lifetimes. So the mind is sort of stupid. It is like you have decided you want to be a devotee, you want to serve Krishna, but the mind is slow. The mind doesn’t get it. The mind is still used to seeking sense gratification and it just keeps going in that habitual way. So with the intelligence we have to try to control the mind because it is just really slow. It just keeps going in that old way even though you as a spirit soul have decided you don’t want to pursue sense gratification. You want to serve Krishna.

If you pray sincerely, as Prabhupada says, Krishna is wisest and most experienced, so He will find some way. Sometimes the way is that Krishna will fulfill the desire that you want to become free from in such a way that you get disgusted with it and want to be free from it. 

For years, probably almost twenty years, I would never watched a movie, and then when I was on an airplane they had introduced in-flight movies but I wasn’t interested. I didn’t watch in-flight movies either but there was something about this one, it just caught my fancy. Maybe it was Krishna in the heart. It was definitely Krishna in the heart, but I don’t know which desire He was fulfilling but Krishna, let us say, inspired me to watch it to the point of putting on the earphones.

The movie was called Brewster’s Millions. Brewster was a black American and he was poor from a humble background somewhere Texas or wherever. He wanted to play baseball. He was just struggling to make it in the minor leagues. He wasn’t really getting anywhere. It turned out that he had a very, very, very wealthy great uncle. Brewster was the only heir. So the great uncle left him some billions of dollars but he didn’t want Brewster to misuse the money. He didn’t want him to squander it. So the lawyers who represent the great uncle, they show a video that the great uncle left. 

So it begins with a video and the old man was saying how when he was young he used to like to smoke cigars. Even though his parents and everyone told him not to smoke he wouldn’t give it up. He was just a young fellow but he was attached to smoking cigars. So the old man’s father locked him in a closet that was lined from the ceiling to the floor with boxes of cigars and he told him, “You cannot get out of this closet until you have smoked every cigar in the closet.” He wanted to get out of the closet so day and night he was just smoking cigars so he could get out. By the end of it he never wanted to see a cigar again. 

With this logic the old man—and this movie was probably twenty years ago or more when a dollar had a lot more value—he gave him thirty million dollars to spend in one month. It was really heard for one man to spend much money then. If he hadn’t spent it by whatever, twelve noon on such-and-such date he would lose the whole inheritance.

So he went shopping for clothes, shoes. Then he checked into an expensive hotel, rang up a big bill from room service. He was hardly making a dent. He had to spend a million dollars a day. It was like nothing. So then someone told him that, “If you run for office you can spend a lot of money.” So he ran for mayor of New York City and he was spending money—press conferences—but the thing is that he started winning in the polls. Because he was so simple and straightforward, people loved him, and all the other candidates were all crooked and corrupt. He was like a breath of fresh air. So he was scheduled to win the election and he didn’t really want to be the mayor of New York. He didn’t know what he would do if he was elected the mayor. I don’t remember it all. I am embellishing a little but I think he had to withdraw from the race because he was going to win, but he still had all this money.

There were so many categories in the minor leagues. He was really lower B category in the minor leagues. So he rented Yankee Stadium and he pitted his minor league team against the New York Yankees. He did everything he could to spend the money. By the end of it he lost the taste to spend money—that is the idea. 

So Krishna can do that. You have a desire to be free from a desire but you have the desire you want to become free from. So which desire will Krishna fulfill? Krishna might fulfill the desire you want to be free from because that is also your desire but fulfill it in such a way that you get disgusted with having that desire and He fulfills both at the same time but the final result is the one you wanted to get rid of you get rid of. And it is there. It seems a little contrary to our philosophy but it is not. It is even in the Bhāgavatam that sometimes it can work like that but it is obviously something we shouldn’t pursue, like, “I have this desire. So if I overindulge in it I will get free from it.” That is not our practice. We should just do our part which is to try to give up material desires and pray to be free from material desires and then leave it to Krishna.

Nitai-lila dasi: In connection with what you were saying when a devotee prays to the Lord to help him give His message in a special way so we will be able to appreciate, it just makes me think of some things that have [appeared recently] and have confused me and disturbed me a lot was that when I went to see my family in Bosnia [?] against hari-nāma because they say people can’t appreciate it and that it is bad preaching. I was just wondering is this a material calculation? And even in America I have been to places where [?] hari-nāma [?]. I was just wondering what is this? How should I understand this?

Giriraj Swami: It is a very good question. Nitai-lila says that in Bosnia and even in some places in America she has heard devotees preach against doing public hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana because they feel the people don’t like it and it creates a bad impression and it actually works against us. So is this lack of faith?

I would say our duty as disciples is to think of the best way to fulfill the order of the spiritual master and the scripture, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words it is the divine command to take the holy name into the streets.

Once I discussed the question with His Holiness Indradyumna Swami and he said the problem is not with hari-nāma but the problem may be with how we do the hari-nāma. He said if you have three, four, five devotees going out, their garments don’t match, their socks don’t match, the singer doesn’t know how to carry a tune, the instrumentalists don’t know how to keep a beat, yes, it is not going to create a good impression, but if devotees are dressed nicely and there is a very festive mood and the music is melodious and harmonious, people will be attracted. Why not. I am sure you might have seen pictures or films of the Polish festival tour. The hari-nāma is a festival.

We really have to try to present the essential elements of Krishna consciousness in a way that is attractive so people are attracted. It is too easy to say, “Oh, people aren’t attracted to hari-nāma so we will just stay back and eat and sleep.”

It is true, there are eternal principles, and I think public chanting is an eternal element of Krishna consciousness, and done properly it is very enlivening for the devotees. Indradyumna Swami would say that chanting alone is perfect, but chanting with other devotees is more perfect, and chanting with other devotees in public is most perfect because you are pleasing Krishna more. And when Krishna is more pleased then the devotees feel more bliss.

In India Srila Prabhupada, when we first came we were doing hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, but eventually he said we should stop it because in India beggars go out and they chant to get money and Prabhupada didn’t want people to think we were beggars. So he stopped it. He introduced life membership because he wanted us to approach respectable people and he wanted them to get his books. He introduced the membership program as a way of distributing his books. But then later when we were established, people knew we were not beggars, and we did do hari-nāma again. So it could be that under certain circumstances it is not the best approach.

Devotee: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: She says that when the women are dressed nicely—they have long hair and nice saris—and the men have shaved heads and nice dhotis, it is attractive and people are attracted to Krishna will be attracted to the devotee. So when we go to distribute books. . .

This is a very good point and it comes back to the idea of that we want to execute the order of the spiritual master and do it in the best possible way. Bhurijana Prabhu told me of an incident in which he brought up to Srila Prabhupada that some of the tactics that devotees were using on book distribution could have a negative effect. Prabhupada’s servant at the time got very upset and he started to say, “If people talk like this, book distribution will go down. The whole thing will be finished.” And Prabhupada said, “No, let him speak.” At the end Srila Prabhupada said, “If you can find a better way to distribute the books, I will be very happy, but the thing is I really want the books to be distributed.” 

A lot of it is individual. I am just giving an example. Say Kesava Bharati Maharaja, he is a very outgoing personality, so he can overwhelm you with his charm, even with a dhoti and kurta and shaved head. So they don’t even see the strangeness of the appearance. They are just overwhelmed by his friendliness whereas someone who is maybe more shy, if they wear Vaishnava dress they might not have the personality to really overwhelm the person and so the person just left thinking that, “Oh gosh, this is very strange. He is a man. He is wearing a pink skirt. He has a handbag.” [laughter] So I would say, yes, all other factors beings equal, it would be nice for the devotees to wear Vaishnava dress, but the thing is as Prabhupada said, he really wanted his books distributed. It could vary from place to place. Some people might be more open to different types of looks and dress than in other places.

I like what you said. In this case I think the overriding—it could vary—but if the overriding issue is distributing the books and if under certain circumstances a particular person can just distribute more books wearing Western dress, Prabhupada did give permission to devotees to wear Western dress. I think if someone can do it in Vaishnava dress, so much the better.

Devotee: If we go to work, should we dress up? [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: You are saying even in the work place? Orthodox Muslims?

Devotee: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. This is another good question. Orthodox followers of other traditions, they wear their orthodox dress to work. They keep their jobs and they get promotions so why can’t Vaishnavas wear their traditional dress to work? Why do they have to feel that they will be discriminated against? 

Again I think it is up to each individual. This isn’t a direct philosophical answer. I think it is more of a psychological answer. Say Sikhs wear their turbans and their beard. I heard there was even a court case in Canada because a taxi company in Canada had a rule that the drivers had to have short hair. They wanted to have a certain image of their drivers as being clean cut. So they had a Sikh taxi driver and he filed a court case that this is his traditional dress in his religion and he doesn’t feel he should have to lose his job because of his traditional dress. And he won the case.

What I’ve heard is that orthodox Sikhs or orthodox Muslims even orthodox Jews, they are really convinced about their way and they don’t care. They are convinced. But Hindus, they have so many different gods and so many different gurus, it is hard for them to develop the idea that their way is right. So the positive side of it is that they are very open, they are very tolerant of differences, but the negative side can be that they don’t really stick to one approach fully, but there is hodge-podge and take a little from here, take a little from there.

I know devotees, they go to work in Vaishnava dress. They have śikhās; they show their bead bag; they are just not ashamed. They are not afraid. They do it and they have been successful but maybe they have that type of personality where someone else might feel too self-conscious, too embarrassed. If we try to enforce it on them going to work, they could have a nervous breakdown every time they have to go out of the house, because they are not ready to face that type of scrutiny and questioning. 

So I think it is very individual and I think we should also be careful not to judge others too much by the way they execute their devotional service because they may be as sincere as anyone else but they may be approaching it in a way that is possible for them and sustainable for them. I don’t think we should conclude based on these external considerations that someone is less of a devotee or has less faith. It would really have to be seen very closely on an individual basis because pride is also an obstacle. If we are proud, we think we are better than others or something—that is an obstacle.

Maybe I will just end with this story that is in the Puranas, Prabhupada was told that in one particular temple there was a lot of quarreling among the devotees and judging, pointing the finger. So Prabhupada told the story of a brahman and a prostitute, they lived opposite each other on a road or path. So every day the brahman would sit with his Bhagavad-gītā at the window and just across the way the prostitute would be entertaining her customers. Something happened, they both died. Something happened.

So the Yamadutas and the Vishnudutas came and the Yamadutas came to take the soul of the brahman. The brahman said, “Wait a moment. I think you are making a mistake. I am the brahman and she is the prostitute. So I think you are meant to get her soul and the Vishnudutas are meant to take my soul.” The Yamadutas replied, “No, we have not made a mistake, because all the time you were sitting at the window with your legs crossed, with your pukka brahman cloth, you were looking out the window and thinking about the prostitute, ‘Oh, now she has another customer. And now they are probably doing this. Now they are probably doing that.’ So although you were sitting with the Bhagavad-gītā, but with your consciousness, you were thinking of the activities of the prostitute. So you are fit to go to hell. And the prostitute, all the time she was doing her business, she was looking out the window at you and thinking, ‘Oh, that pious brahman, he is reading the Bhagavad-gītā all day,’ and then she would be thinking of Krishna speaking the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna and the whole day she would be thinking of Krishna and Arjuna and the Bhagavad-gītā. So by her consciousness she is meant to go back to Godhead.”

Srila Prabhupada told the story to make the point that we can’t judge by external appearances. What really matters in Krishna consciousness is the consciousness and by external appearances we may not know what the person’s consciousness is. For ourselves we should always think how we can do better, how we can present Krishna consciousness in a better way. We can even think for the movement how the movement can spread Krishna consciousness in a better way. The places that seem to be the most successful are very strong on our traditional practices and culture: The Polish Festival Tour, Hungary, or Chowpatty. 

So for ourselves and for the society we can think what is the best way to present Krishna consciousness but I think we should be careful when it comes to individuals, how they distribute books or how they conduct themselves at work, because there may be reasons for what they are doing that we may not know and the real thing is the consciousness and we may not know what their consciousness is. So it would be better to give them the benefit of the doubt and think they must have some good reason. If they are good devotees, if they are chanting sixteen rounds, following the principles, if they are good devotees, but when they go to work they dress in a certain way or when they distribute books they dress in a certain way, we should give them the benefit of the doubt and think they must have some reason why they are doing it. And if you have that relationship you can ask them. 

But sometimes people, when you are in a position, you may get a sense of what you have to do in that position and someone who is not in the position may not have the sense. One devotee told me when he was a regular temple devotee he found so much fault with the temple president that, “He does this; he does that; and this isn’t how a Vaishnava should behave; and he should rather do like this and do like that.” And then it just so happened that after some time he became the temple president and when he was in the position of temple president he realized that you actually have to do a lot of the things that he criticized the other temple presidents for doing because when you are the temple president you just have to do certain things. 

If someone is in the position that is different from the position we are in, to begin we should give them the benefit of the doubt that they may understand something that is required in that situation that we may not understand because we’ve never been in that situation. That will make our association more congenial and that will be good for us individually and collectively. It will be good for our preaching if people see good relationships among devotees, respect among devotees even if they are differences—unity in variety. 

It so often happens that when we think something ill of someone else for a certain thing, we are in a situation where we do the same thing. I heard it twice recently from senior devotees. The first I remember Radhanath Swami, we were at the Los Angeles Ratha-yatra and somehow they misplaced the key to the car that was supposed to carry Lady Subhadra to the parade. So that was all right. That happened once. It happens. 

It just so happened that after the festival Maharaja and I were taking a japa walk in the neighborhood of the temple and we happened to meet Tadit Mataji, Svavasa Prabhu’s wife in the parking lot and she looked distressed, mildly distressed. So we said, “Tadit Mataji, how are you?” She said, “We can’t find the key.” As we were walking away Radhanath Swami said to me that, “If I were to think, ‘Oh, how stupid, they lost the key,” I guarantee you that within twenty-four hours I would lose my keys.” [laughter] Someone else, another very senior godbrother said the exact same type of thing. 

Be careful. It can happen and that is also Krishna’s mercy that we end up in a situation where we have to do what we found fault in others for doing just to make us more humble.

Devotee: [inaudible] If we turn that around, rather than looking at the negative, things that have somehow gone wrong, we can turn it around [?].

Giriraj Swami: she made a brilliant point that if we turn it around and look at the good that others are doing then the good they are doing will rub off on us and we will do good.