SB 4.13.26

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Four, Chapter Thirteen, The Descendants of Dhruva Mahārāja, Text Twenty-Four.

TEXT 24

etad ākhyāhi me brahman
sunīthātmaja-ceṣṭitam
śraddadhānāya bhaktāya
tvaṁ parāvara-vittamaḥ

TRANSLATION

Vidura requested Maitreya: My dear brāhmaṇa, you are well conversant with all subjects, both past and future. Therefore I wish to hear from you all the activities of King Vena. I am your faithful devotee, so please explain this.

COMMENT

Recently, I heard a class by Srila Prabhupada in which he spoke a little, and then he asked the devotees to discuss. So, the purport covers topics with which you are all familiar, on which I’ve also spoken many times. So, after reading the purport, and repeating the translation, I will ask you to discuss this topic.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Vidura accepted Maitreya as his spiritual master. A disciple always inquires from the spiritual master, and the spiritual master answers the question, provided the disciple is very gentle and devoted. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura said that by the mercy of the spiritual master one is blessed with the mercy of the Supreme Lord. The spiritual master is not inclined to disclose all the secrets of transcendental science unless the disciple is very submissive and devoted. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the process of receiving knowledge from the spiritual master entails submission, inquiry and service.

TRANSLATION

Vidura requested Maitreya: My dear brāhmaṇa, you are well conversant with all subjects, both past and future. Therefore I wish to hear from you all the activities of King Vena. I am your faithful devotee, so please explain this.

COMMENT

So, in this verse, Vidura is presenting himself as a disciple, or a devotee of Maitreya. He had heard about the activities of King Vena, a mention of the activities of King Vena, and some questions arose in his mind. And, those questions were expressed in the previous verses, Text Twenty-One.

TEXT 21

Vidura inquired from the sage Maitreya: My dear brāhmaṇa, King Aṅga was very gentle. He had high character and was a saintly personality and lover of brahminical culture. How is it that such a great soul got a bad son like Vena, because of whom he became indifferent to his kingdom and left it?

COMMENT

So, this is a very perplexing situation. King Anga was a very advanced devotee and king. So, how is it possible that he got a bad son like Vena, who was so bad that his own father left his kingdom?

TEXT 22

Vidura also inquired: How is it that the great sages, who were completely conversant with religious principles, desired to curse King Vena, who himself carried the rod of punishment, and thus awarded him the greatest punishment [brahma-śāpa]?

COMMENT

So, the king carries the rod of punishment. He is the representative of God, and he is meant to enforce the laws of God within the kingdom. The laws of God are called dharma, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam. Dharma means the laws of God, varnashrama-dharma. So, how is it possible that the brahmans punish the king? The king is supposed to see that all of the citizens act properly according to their position in society, according to varna and ashram, including the brahmans. Of course, genuine brahmans are beyond the jurisdiction of the king’s punishment. But, the king in supervising the affairs of the state is supposed to see whether the brahmans are actually proper brahmans.

In India now, and perhaps for some time, there have been many so-called gurus. And, what to speak of so-called gurus. Even so-called incarnations of God. And, Srila Prabhupada said, it’s the duty of the government to license proper brahmans or gurus. It is that just like in ordinary affairs, no one can just practice medicine. The person has to follow a course of study, pass the examinations, spend time as an intern in residency, and be licensed to practice medicine. And, there is a similar process for lawyers. So, Srila Prabhupada was saying the duties or the responsibilities of the brahmans or gurus is even greater than that of a doctor or a lawyer. So, the government should see that persons who are claiming to be gurus, or who are desiring to act as gurus should be properly qualified, and they should, the government should license them. And, if they are not conducting their business properly, then the government should revoke their license.

But a genuine brahman, he is beyond the rules of the king, means not above dharma but above the decisions of the king, and above the punishment of the king. But, the brahmans are advisors to the king. Although the Vedic system was monarchy, but the king was not independent. He would have his brahmans whom he would consult. Even when he would travel, he would have a retinue of brahmins who accompanied him, and he would always consult them, and whatever they decided, whatever the majority decided or, whatever the consensus was, he would accept; that would be the decision. So, the king was not independent, although he was the monarch. And, but still he was the representative of God, and the brahmans would help him. They would give him good advice and they would support him in his work. So, for the brahmans to curse a king was highly exceptional, because again the king is the representative of God, who’s meant to uphold dharma within the state.

Then the next question of the Vidura.

TEXT 23

It is the duty of all citizens in a state never to insult the king, even though he sometimes appears to have done something very sinful. Because of his prowess, the king is always more influential than all other ruling chiefs.

COMMENT

So, both the brahmans and the king are representatives of God in principle, and therefore they should never be insulted or chastised even if their behavior appears to be sinful, because they are powerful, they are in their positions by the grace of God, and they are meant to be respected and obeyed. So, this is very unusual for the brahmins to take such an action against the king.

So we then, we come to today’s verse.

TEXT 24

Vidura requested Maitreya: My dear brāhmaṇa, you are well conversant with all subjects, both past and future. Therefore I wish to hear from you all the activities of King Vena. I am your faithful devotee, so please explain this.

COMMENT

So, within this verse, the qualification of the teacher or speaker is mentioned, the qualification of the listener or student is explained, and the proper subject for discussion is also mentioned.

Maitreya is well conversant with all subjects; past and future. It is understood that all of the topics in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam relate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. So, when he says you are conversant with all subjects; past and future, he means the subjects that comprise Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Sometimes, the question of knowing everything comes up.

In one purport, in the Bhagavad-gītā, Srila Prabhupada writes that a disciple of a bona fide spiritual master is supposed to know everything. So, what is that everything? Srila Prabhupada explains, “Everything means, he knows whatever his spiritual master has taught him.” That’s what everything means. And, what does it mean that the spiritual master knows everything? And, Srila Prabhupada explained that it means that he knows the transcendental science. It doesn’t mean that he knows everything like God knows everything. Doesn’t mean that he is omniscient like God. Otherwise why would he read books? But, he knows the science of God, and he presents it to varying degrees to the students according to their degree of qualification.

And then Vidura, as the disciple, what is his qualification? śraddadhānāya, he is faithful. He has faith in the words of his spiritual master; that is the first and foremost qualification of any disciple, or any devotee. Ādau śraddhā devotional service begins with sraddha—faith and attraction.

And here, Vidura presents himself bhaktāya, as a bhakta of his teacher. Generally, we think of someone as a bhakta of the Supreme Lord, and a student of his teacher, shishya. But here, he is saying bhaktāya—I am your devotee. So, please instruct me, please answer my questions. Asking questions is also one of the basic items of devotional service.

Of course, in the purport, Srila Prabhupada refers to the verse, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā. So, paripraśnena means to ask questions, and in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, first items of devotional service, preliminary ten items are, one should accept the shelter of a spiritual master; one should take instruction from him; one should take initiation from him, and one should inquire, sad-dharma-pṛcchā, one should entire inquire into eternal religious principles, or into the subject of devotional service, the Lord and the devotees, and the exchange between the Lord and the devotees which is devotional service.

And, because Vidura is qualified, Maitreya will proceed to answer his questions. So, this is the general idea. Again, these are topics that are regularly discussed. You’ve heard them many times. But, the subject really is one that we all live with, on a day-to-day basis, moment to moment, because we are here, we have spiritual masters, dīkṣā-gurus, śikṣā-gurus.

So, I would like to hear from you, wise and experienced devotees, what your realizations are, or thoughts are on this topic. So, we can pass this around. Is there another one? Or well, we can pass this around, but it would be good if there is another microphone because I might comment. Do we have any volunteers or shall I. . . Janaka Maharaja, you are our senior most member here. You have deep thoughts and realizations.

Janaka Maharaja: If there is a relationship between guru and the disciple, it is not ordinary. It is coming from the eternal world, not abruptly one accepts a guru.

Giriraj Swami: Can we turn off this? Thank you.

Janaka Maharaja: It is coming from the eternal world. It is not easy, oh, I accept guru, I accept guru this. This is eternal relationship between guru and disciple. And, by mercy of Krishna, we get guru’s mercy and guru. So, once you accept a guru with sraddha, with devotion, and after accepting the guru, we hear the transcendental knowledge from him, transcendental instruction from him, time to time, and we accept that instruction. They are in your heart, and we are following his instruction very properly. And, there are so many questions arising because we are in the material world. So, we inquire from our spiritual master very honestly, very mildly, very humility to hear from him the answers.

Over here, Vidura, he is a very learned disciple and very elevated person. But, he want to hear, and that’s why he first approached Krishna and Uddhava, but Uddhava thought that Maitreya is better guru to instruct him. And, Sri Maitreya instructing him all this Bhāgavatam, one by one by one. And, a certain point, Vidura asks him, that is amazing thing that we do not know that you are asking about King Vena and what are the points he is mentioning over here. Three, four points, that we think that, Oh, this is very cleverly and very abruptly, he decided to ask this question, and it is good questions, not ordinary challenging questions of why it happened, why it happened? He is asking with vision and matter to this point. So, Maitreya will answer his question following.

But over here, this is the relation between the disciple and guru discussing over here, and śraddadhānāya, by praying, and he is asking this bhaktāya, by devotion, he is asking this question. So, this is very important—how to ask the question to Guru Maharaja, and how to hear and serve him? By serving him with very humility, then and then guru will relate this answer. Without our expertise, guru will say so many things, but if you will not understand, so there should be our qualification to understand first. Then and then, guru will tell you the secret.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Thank you. Maybe Sukumari. . . I was thinking more personal experiences and realizations.

Sukumari: Hare Krishna. What comes to me first is, for me, guru means not just one personality, my initiating spiritual master, but it also includes instructing spiritual masters, those personalities who help me continue serving Srila Prabhupada’s mission on a day-to-day basis. Some instructions are given personally, and some instructions, or general instructions that we hear in lectures. I, as I’m qualified, I do understand that the relationship the disciple has with the spiritual master is very important, and it is this relationship that helps us to go back home, back to Godhead. Because, if we cannot serve the spiritual master and follow his instructions here, then I feel there is no hope for us to go back to Godhead. Because the spiritual master is actually preparing us disciples here to perfect our lives that will enable us to go back to the Goloka Vrindavan, and hopefully one day serve Srila Prabhupada’s mission there.

And, in my experiences with the senior devotees is that it’s important that the disciple be honest. And, in where one is in one spiritual life, in one’s practices. And because, if we do not reach our spiritual master, our weaknesses then, how is he going to help us? Because sometimes, we don’t always have the physical association of one spiritual master, and then, when the spiritual master visits now and again, then it’s easy to perform, or as they say to put on a show for a few days. But, it is important that we express our heart. And, a disciple, I feel, should ask questions to the spiritual master that is relevant to helping one personally advance, not ask questions to impress people, but ask questions that’s pertinent to one’s own spiritual life. And, we must have the faith and conviction that whatever answer the spiritual master gives, that we should be able to follow that. Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Wendy.

Wendy: Hare Krishna. When you were speaking about this story I was, I was just thinking along every step, every question that he was saying, I was speculating, maybe it was this reason, maybe it was that reason, and all of these different things along the way. When you were talking about when, for example, when you are talking about when, how can the pious king so pure has such a naughty boy? And then, I was thinking about Hiraṇyakaśipu, and I was thinking about his parents, and they were so kind. And then, they were so upset, after they heard about what might come, and then they were relieved, because then they also had such a beautiful grandson Prahlada Maharaja.

And so, we kept going, as we kept going along with the story, and I was thinking, Oh, the king gave up his kingdom, how can he do that? He is a representative of God, and the [Unintelligible 00:37:58] him, and I was thinking about the brahmans were trying to help the king, because they love the king. And, if they didn’t punish him in this life, he’ll get punished in the next life. And, all of these thoughts just kept going on with that.

But then, I was thinking, at the end, we were talking about this pure devotee asking another pure devotee his ideas, and his realization, and the answers to these questions, I realized that even if the heart is pure, sometimes the mind is so complex, and sometimes it’s not clear. That [Unintelligible 00:38:39]. So, to speak to someone who has applied knowledge, who is self-realized, and who’s so pure. . . Even if it’s coming from a pure one, to just speak to one another like that. You can ask someone that you really trust, you really know is following all principles. Just their life is like that, and I was thinking that’s the way that you’ll get your answers. You’ll know, it’s right. Not only will the heart and the soul agree, but it makes, basically, you can’t just listen to what your mind has to say. Sometimes you have to ask somebody for the answers to make sure that that’s correct.

Giriraj Swami: That’s very good. Michael.

Michael: There is two points of the discussion. The first point is the submissive service to the spiritual master, to Srila Prabhupada, to Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Now, that was a good point about not bothering the spiritual master with one’s material problems. But if you are, if your life is dedicated to service, and some material circumstance within your life is making your service more difficult, then dealing with the problem is also part of your service, ultimately. But of course, there could be many people who can help you deal with these issues. And, there are also types of gurus who can help you with your marriage, or dealing with your children, or your career, or whatever it is.

Otherwise, there is a danger that in the name of not disturbing the spiritual master, one is hiding things from the spiritual master, and putting on a show. It may not be that one has to discuss everything with one’s initiating spiritual master, but if one has a problem that is an impediment to one’s progress, one should approach some competent authority for help and not try to conceal it. And, because it’s. . . Of course one might conceal it, thinking well I’ll deal with it on my own. But sometimes we are not able to do it alone. A lot of the time, we really can’t do it alone, and so not approaching either one spiritual master’s dīkṣā-guru or śikṣā-guru, someone who is competent to help one in that area, it could be a sort of a manifestation of false ego, or false prestige that one doesn’t want to be honest about one’s difficulties and seek help. Help can come in many ways. [It] can come from the holy name, from the Deities, from the books, from the other devotees. I think, often, it may come to the point where we need help from some devotee who’s qualified to help us.

Anyone else? Well, Janaka Maharaja raised his hand, and Vidura, Vidura must. . .

Janaka Maharaja: In daily life, the importance of guru is, in devotional life particularly, importance of guru is very important. And, from the beginning days, I surrendered myself to my Guru Maharaja. What I have to do today, what I have not to do. And, he is guiding me in every respect. No doubt, he is not present in this world, but he is always present with me, and he is guiding me by himself, by his godbrothers. Sometimes, I ask questions from his godbrothers, about what are my difficulties, and he is guiding me from inner:

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

Krishna is saying, but guru is also guiding from within. Any instruction required, he is guiding us, but we have to surrender completely. Our faith should be very pure, and our question also should be pure, not material. So, he is guiding me in this way, and I am taking light in this way, in my life. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. [Unintelligible 00:46:30] It’s very important that my relationship with my Guru Maharaja, it’s like that, because I had the unfortunate situation of coming from a previous guru. So, I justified this by the fourth verse of the Gurv-aṣṭaka, samsara dava nalalida loka. At the end, I was thinking that I have so much [Unintelligible 00:47:04] from the beginning my Guru Maharaja. So, that’s unfortunate situation, and amazingly I had a dream, and [Unintelligible 00:47:14] Maharaja was telling me, “You, why are you bothering your Guru Maharaja so much, your father, your problem. Why don’t you approach a devotee?” But, it’s very difficult for me to find a confidential person who can keep my problems very confidential. And so, one time I was taking my Guru Maharaja to the airport, and I actually revealed this dream to him. I was telling my Guru Maharaja that I’m sorry but you have to take my material problem, and he accepted that, and because of that, I have so much confidence in my Guru Maharaja, to lead me up from it.

One time, he is telling me [Unintelligible 00:48:10], and it was so difficult. I didn’t want to develop any relationship and any other senior devotee. One time Ṛtadhvaja Maharaja was giving a class, and I happen to sit almost in front of him, and when he finished the class, he was saying, “I am disappointed here, I’ve come here for so many years, and you never invite me to your house.” So immediately who is he talking about? Then he is, “I’m talking to you.” I was like oh my God! So that’s how I tried to. It was very slowly, but now I’m trying to get through. How should I say, put my trust and in other senior devotees, slowly, slowly. So, thank you very much.

Giriraj Swami: Anyone else? What is your name? Bhaktin Satya.

Satya: [Unintelligible 00:49:20]

Giriraj Swami: But you are taking instruction, you are following someone’s instructions. Okay. Yes?

Devotee: How the purport states of the knowledge of the past and the future, it brought back some memories of my spiritual master, and he was pushing very quickly to get initiated. She told me she wasn’t ready, because she didn’t have faith in him. She didn’t think she could have faith in him, like I had faith in him. She asked how I had such faith in him? So, I need to share how I have so much faith in him. He did something very special for me. He would always tell me what was in the future. So, it made it very easy for me.

The second time I met him, I was a high school student. And, as he entered this room, he started giving me all these instructions, and I told him, “Oh wait a minute, and these things cannot happen, because my parents plan for my life, and this is what I’m going to do. So, what you are saying, it doesn’t apply.” He said, “That’s all right. But, when this happens. . .” And then, he went on. I said, “Maharaja, you didn’t hear me or what? So again, I told you, my parents have this planned for my life, and this is what I’m planning to do. So, what you are saying doesn’t apply. Why are you telling me all these things?” He said, “Just listen.” And, he gave me so many instructions, and one month later everything came true.

Giving all these instructions that had so many difficulties in my life at that time, everything he said just works for me. When I have this problem, I just remember, oh he said to do this when this happens, and I did it. It was amazing, he gave me all these instructions, which were, which applied for later. Later when I met him, in the beginning when I got married, he would tell me what to do, and if I followed that, everything was fine. And, I’m not, I have a difficulty accepting people, and seeing the motives behind. What’s happening, sometimes people may say something, but they are really trying to get into something different, and I couldn’t see through that. I haven’t developed the skills. So, he would guide me in such a way, that I never fell for it.

You know how many people manipulate to do something, but he would say, no matter what happens, this is what I want you to do, and I would stick with it. And later, “Oh, they are trying to manipulate me like this.” He often protected me like that. Even after I was married, if something was going to happen, he would make sure he would tell me ahead of time, “If something, if this happens to you, I want you to do this.” I would think, okay, when or whatever. I would keep it in my head, and if it would happen, I would know exactly what to do. So sometimes, their worrying is not here to help me, and so I have a lot of faith in the spiritual master, because I can understand that his words are for your protection. And it’s hard to describe. It’s something that will carry it through, no matter what happens in the world, either material or spiritual. It is always taken care of, by his words. We just have to have faith in the words of the spiritual master, and certainly we will get it through.

Giriraj Swami: Jaya! Nice. Chaitanya dasa?

Chaitanya dasa: Hare Krishna Maharaja. It was in early nineties when Tamal Krishna Maharaja would come around, and he would tell us something, some instruction he would give us. And, he would come back after six months, eight months, something like that, and a couple of times, he came, he asked us, what’s going on regarding different things. And then, he says, now if you write me, because that time there was no email, or the phone was also difficult, [Unintelligible 00:53:45] orient or India or something.

So, he said you can write to me, and next time, he came, and he just, I picked him up from the airport, and the first thing he asked, he said, “How could none of you write to me anything?” I didn’t answer this. And when he looked at me, he said, “Because you guys don’t do anything. You guys don’t know anything, that’s why you have nothing to write.” And, the reason why I’m saying is that because many times I have some questions. And, so many devotees, and you also mentioned that, we should ask the right question, we should follow it, but I find it, that my inability to follow, that’s why I don’t ask questions.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, well that’s true. You shouldn’t ask a question, if you are not prepared to follow the answer.

Devotee: Yeah.

Giriraj Swami: But, if you don’t ask questions, you won’t make as much progress. But, that’s true. I mean it would be very dishonest, to ask a question without being prepared to follow the answer. But, why should we stick in that position? Anyway, it’s. . . But that was a good point. That was a good point. I really can’t say too much more. Well, thank you. And this Mataji, I, once you gave me a garland, I forgot, I asked what your name was then, but I’ve forgotten.

Devotee: My name [Unintelligible 00:55:53] Sundari, I’m a disciple of His Grace Tamal Krishna Goswami. My experiences are not as great as many of my godbrothers and sisters. All I know, I was always very much attached to my parents. Mother as well father. I always considered I am my father’s desire, at a time when he was going through a difficult time of partition of India and Pakistan. And, he was carrying all the load of the family life by himself. He was only son. Not only for his wife, and I have five elder brothers and sisters houses, you know this one. He was carrying a lot of his own family plus his little sister, and mother. And, my mother’s whole family, my mother’s mother, father, dear son, everybody, and he was and more or less single-handedly trying to make everybody established in that difficult time, when we were refugees.

And, I was born in that state where my mother felt like it, “Ah, this is not a time to raise a child, and we are refugees. We have no cows, no property, no money, no nothing. How will I ever raise this child at this difficult time?” And my father’s answer was, “Don’t worry. Every soul brings their own karmas. Why do you think about it? This child will have its own karmas. Whatever her karmas are, they are going to be, so don’t worry about it.”

But, my father’s mother interpreted it as, and she said to my mom, “My dear daughter-in-law, don’t worry about this child. This is the only happiness my son is seeing in this difficult time. Because the happiness of a new life in the house is a sign of hope. And, that’s what he is looking for. So, accept it as a God’s grace, and don’t worry about her raising.” I had overheard this as a child, when my mom was telling somebody else, and I felt such a strength that I am the desire of my father.

I am a person who brings hope in life, and I was very much attached to my mother, because oh, she is worried about me. I’d better not let her worry about me. So, I always was very, very happy, and I never wanted to leave my parents’ home. I said all my life, I’m going to take care of my parents when they get old, because I’m the youngest one. I’m going to take care of them. I never imagined marrying or going anywhere else. I was told don’t you want to get married? I said yeah, it’s beautiful, but I don’t want to leave my home. I’ll get married, if you send me, wherever everybody goes and I come back to my home.

Anyway the whole gist is that I was so attached to my own family, that I never wanted to leave, but I grew up. I had my education, and had my whatever career fulfillment. My father did say, “Yeah, it’s okay, but we are old, we’ll go over one day, so you should think of getting married.” “Fine! if you say so.” So I thought okay, after parents go away, husband’s supposed to be parent. He is supposed to be the elder, but somehow that didn’t happen.

That was the time I felt, oh my God I was supposed to be with my father and mother, and husband is not there around, he just left. Where I’m going to put my faith, or focus or anything? What am I going to do? I didn’t want to remarry. I didn’t want to do anything, so I had a child, what to do? That’s where I found I need something where I can put everything, and draw strength from.

That’s where I started looking for satsaṅgas and holy company and all that. And I came to the temple for the first time to give charities, it was my son’s birthday. And, I saw American young men cooking, cutting vegetables, and all that. And being a young woman, [Unintelligible 01:00:40], I said, oh I’m not going to come back here again. All these men are here, there is no family, there is no women. That’s not my place. Never want to come back. But again, I had to raise a child, and I was worried that my Indian culture wouldn’t be to, this person was born here in America.

What am I going to do? I mean, we will be two different people not knowing. So slowly, slowly I went, came back again. And then I saw Dwarkanath dasa Prabhu, one of my godbrothers, and his wife, and his children. I felt a little happy. And, I saw some more people. I started coming here. Then, I met Gurupriya, and she was a great cook. And I came to know, she cooked before I even saw her. Anyway, all these companies slowly, and so they are the people who said, there is this guru, you should meet. I know I have to do something, but I didn’t know what.

So finally, I met Gurudeva, and the same thing came Gurudeva, this my family would think I’m doing something crazy, because I never go against the wishes of my family. Now I was living, my sister and her husband, we were, they were just copy of my parents, and I started saying guru, what am I supposed to do? He said, and I’ve never been rebellious, so this feels like a rebellious nature if I go against them, and follow somebody else. So, you tell me whether I’m supposed to be taking initiation, being the disciple, or how to fight myself.

He said, “Don’t worry, we are all rebellious, that’s why we are in this world. We belong to Krishna’s world. We were envious, we were rebellious, that’s how we came. So, don’t worry about it. Nothing is going to change for them. Everything, it should be altered in you. You will know the difference. You will find out how it is. So, it’s for you. Don’t think about anybody, and don’t think what anybody thinks.” Somehow, that was so strong, I felt so good that I’m not doing anything wrong. And I do have a focus, and I do have somebody to follow or to look up to, if I ever need guidance, or whatever. And that was sufficient. From that time onwards, I was very happy.

I knew, I have my world. I knew I had my protection, and somehow all my life, my mom had put in my head so much, that we, the parents who brought you in this world, we are the one, who take care of you, and we worry about you if something happens to you. The rest of the world is, is okay. They don’t care whether you are happy, not happy, die or not. We do. And that was true all my life. My parents did take care of me. Even till the end, and in every respect. So, even though I miss my parents, I still see that both my parents, and all the security, and all the goodness, and all the blessing. But, just one thinking of Gurudeva, he is everything. So whatever happens around, I can kind of brush off, and I can still draw happiness. And I feel, okay that’s good. My life is so small, and I don’t know if it will go long. But it’s happy, it’s good, it’s blissful. I think I don’t need anything.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Anyone else? Draupadi Mataji, Bhakta Richie?

Devotee: Hare Krishna. [Unintelligible 01:05:05] I was thinking about the fire, the service and being in the service of the spiritual master. I was thinking about the purification that comes from that. Sometimes things come out that we don’t, we don’t want them to come out, they just come out. We do things that we don’t, we don’t really want to do, but, and we know we shouldn’t do them, and they didn’t just come out. Or, just situations arising, we shouldn’t. Something happens, and we try to avoid the situation, but still something pushes us, and it just happens, and somebody comes, and you know it’s going to be some confrontation, or something that you try to avoid it. And you are trying to find some way to get out of it. Sometimes, it just ends up happening, and, and that is, yeah. It’s just because we tend to expect something from the spiritual master. We put all these material, with everybody else we expect things from other people, but the spiritual master is trying to teach us pure devotion to Krishna, which is unmotivated.

We are supposed to be serving Krishna without expecting anything from Him. We are supposed to be, that’s the residents of Vrindavan, they love, they just love Krishna because He is Krishna, they don’t love Him because He is God, or because He is, He is just creator, maintainer of the whole universe, possessor of all infinite qualities, and beauty, strength, everything. Because this is everything that limited me, but everybody in Vrindavan, they, they just love Krishna, just because He is so lovable. Because He is just so wonderful. Those loving exchanges, those moments, to share with Him.

So I was just thinking that the relationship between the disciple, the spiritual master is training us to, he is giving us a glimpse, a small glimpse of those relationships, that we can have in the spiritual world. The relationship with the spiritual master is always awe in reverence, but sometimes very merciful, and reveals to us sometimes the sweetness, that could be experienced in the spiritual world. But, but, but here we have so many reservations and material desires expectations.

We want something from the spiritual master, and it’s very uncomfortable. It’s very uncomfortable to want something from somebody, and you should be serving somebody purely, without expecting anything from the person. But, but these things are still there. They are just a block. You just, and, I just sometimes, I just think about how nice it would be in the spiritual world, that you are serving Krishna in a spiritual body. You don’t need to sleep, you don’t need to eat. You are just, you are just ecstatic, just having these loving exchanges, but without wanting anything from Krishna. And then, I just sometimes, I feel how wonderful that would be to be able to serve without expecting nothing, and be feeling no pain and just, yeah, I can’t [Unintelligible 01:09:25].

Giriraj Swami: That’s very nice. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Nitai-Gaura premānande. Thank you all very much.

Devotees: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!