SB 2.3.23 – Pure Devotional Service

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three: “Pure Devotional Service,”

TEXT 23

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ

na jātu martyo ‘bhilabheta yas tu

śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ

śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

TRANSLATION

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts. There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Bhāg. 5.12.12):

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā
na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair
vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam

“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”

In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.

COMMENT

So, we have gathered here to try to revive our dormant love for Krishna, and the process recommended here and in other places is to receive the dust of the lotus feet of the Lord’s pure devotee. Srila Prabhupada quoted a verse from the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that one can achieve the perfectional stage of devotional service by being blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. One cannot achieve that stage by tapasya, by the Vedic worshipping process, by sannyasa ashram, by grihastha ashram, by performing austerities in the hot sun, in cold water, or before the blazing fire.

When I first came to Krishna consciousness by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, I was naturally introduced to the process of devotional service as practiced by Srila Prabhupada’s disciples in his temples, and those processes included deity worship, chanting the holy names, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, offering one’s food to the deities, honoring prasāda, distributing books, so many activities. But one night, I had a significant conversation with Tamal Krishna Goswami in Calcutta, which enlightened me and altered my perspective on devotional service. It was quite late, I am not sure what time but the devotees did take rest early, by around nine o’clock, but it would have been after nine o’clock because all the other devotees were asleep. And I was on the balcony, I don’t know how many of you have seen the Calcutta temple. I was on the balcony and Tamal Krishna Goswami came out and started to talk to me, began to open his heart to me, reveal his mind to me. And he said that the secret of success in devotional service is to please the spiritual master. And as I mentioned, I had been reading books, I had been following the temple programs, I had been doing service, but to me they were all different items. I didn’t really distinguish one as being more important than another, but I just took them all as part of devotional service and as things that we had to do and develop taste for. But in this discussion, Tamal Krishna Goswami suggested that there was a central point or a focal point, which was to serve the spiritual master and please the spiritual master.

Somehow, his words entered my heart and I had a little revolution in consciousness. My perspective changed, and then the focal point became serving the spiritual master and pleasing the spiritual master. We still did the various activities, we still got up in the morning, attended the morning program, maṅgala-ārati, and chanted our rounds, and read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and did various services during the day, but the focal point became the service to the spiritual master, to Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada himself attributed his success to his faithful following of the orders of his spiritual master. He came to the West, arrived in New York at the age of seventy and began the Krishna consciousness movement on the order of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, to preach the message of Lord Chaitanya in English, throughout the world. And he came with, I think forty rupees, which in those days became seven dollars and his translation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, and that was about all. But with faith in his spiritual master, he took all risks at an advanced age, and in the end, he was successful.

This is the paramparā system. Srila Prabhupada served his spiritual master, his spiritual master served his spiritual master, his spiritual master served his spiritual master, and all the way back to Lord Chaitanya, and then to Radha and Krishna. And that is the way to please Krishna. We can’t approach Krishna directly, we can’t please Krishna directly, but by pleasing His servant through disciplic succession, we please Him. So, it is like a chain and like a train. Srila Prabhupada said, it was like a train in the sense that his guru Maharaja was, I guess, the image would be of a train where the locomotive is at the back. And he said he was being pushed by his guru Maharaja, and now he was pushing us, and then we also push the next generation. So it is a great train or chain, and by that process, we are ultimately admitted into the association of the Lord. When we are recommended by our spiritual master, in our case recommended by Srila Prabhupada to his spiritual master, he will accept us. And then when he recommends us to his spiritual master, he will accept us, and then all the way back through disciplic succession to Srimati Radharani, and when She accepts us and recommends us to Krishna, then Krishna will accept us.

I had a very interesting conversation with our godbrother, Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami, and he told of an experience he had and a thought that he had. He was in India, and it became the time of Puruṣottama-māsa, which is approaching. Just like in the Gregorian calendar, solar calendar, every year we lose maybe a quarter of the day. So every four years there is leap year, they add an extra day to February. So in the Vedic calendar or lunar calendar, every year they lose several days, and then every three years, they add a month, that is called Puruṣottama-māsa, the adhika-māsa. And so, that month is considered to be more potent even than Kartik. Kartik is a special month every year, in which the value or the effects of one’s devotional service and one’s austerities is magnified. And Puruṣottama-māsa, I have heard different versions but it is something like three times more potent than Kartik-māsa.

So during Puruṣottama-māsa some years ago, Satsvarupa Maharaja went to Puruṣottama-kṣetra, Jagannatha Puri, to observe the special month. And at the time, he was attracted to the association of a Gaudiya Vaishnava, a senior Gaudiya Vaishnava outside of ISKCON. So he went and he wanted to have the association of that sadhu, but that sadhu was speaking mainly in Hindi, and he didn’t seem to be paying any special attention to Satsvarupa Maharaja or give any consideration to the fact that he had taken this time out of his busy schedule specifically to be with him in Jagannatha Puri, and he just felt uncomfortable. He had the thought that Srila Prabhupada had created ISKCON for him, for people like him, and that he could never really feel at home outside of ISKCON. And then he started to consider that by turning himself into a disciple, some sort of śikṣā disciple of this venerable Vaishnava, he was taking a gamble because he wasn’t really sure where he stood in relation to that sadhu and where that sadhu would stand in relation to him.

And he imagined approaching the precincts of Goloka, Vrindavan in the spiritual world and being met by a gatekeeper, and the gatekeeper would ask him, “Who are you?” And he imagined saying, “I am a disciple of that sadhu.” And then he imagined the gatekeeper checking with that sadhu and, he wasn’t sure what would happen, he just wasn’t sure how it would all work. So then he imagined the same scenario, come to the precincts of Goloka, Vrindavan and the gatekeeper would ask, “Who are you?” And, he would say, “I am a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and the gatekeeper would say, “Right, wait a moment, I will check.” And then the gatekeeper would approach Srila Prabhupada and tell him, “Satsvarupa dasa has come.” And then he imagined that Srila Prabhupada would say, “Satsvarupa? My Satsvarupa? Call him immediately.” And he felt very confident and sure about that relationship. So, Krishna consciousness is very personal. We have our processes, but the processes are also personal. But the goal of our activities is to please the Lord’s servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. And by that process, we ultimately are brought to Srimati Radharani, and then when She accepts us and recommends us, then we are introduced to Krishna.

There is one song, there are others, but there is one song by Narottama dasa Thakura in which he mentions, leaving this mortal body and taking birth in Vrindavan. And in Vrindavan he, in the form of a gopī, in his case he envisioned himself in the form of a gopī, and his spiritual master, Lokanath Gosvami, was also there in the form of a gopī, I believe named Manjuali. And so, this Manjuali gopī. . .So, then Rupa Mañjarī, there is a hierarchy, it is like a paramparā even in the spiritual world, and so, the leader of the Manjaris, or the main servants of Radharani is Rupa Mañjarī. So Rupa Mañjarī says, “Who is this new gopī?” And Manjuali says, “Oh, this is Narottama dasa Thakura,” or whatever his name is in the spiritual world, “Please engage him in service.” And then Rupa Mañjarī accepts the new girl and engages her in service. And then eventually, Rupa Mañjarī introduces her to Radharani, and Radharani introduces her to Krishna.

So that is our system, our system of paramparā. So we have paramparā here in the material world, and we have paramparā there in the spiritual world. And the same types of relationships here are replicated in the spiritual world. We find this in gaura-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā, that many of Krishna’s associates in Goloka, Vrindavan take birth in Navadvipa and other places to assist the Lord in His pastimes as Sri Krishna Chaitanya. And many of the same types of relationships continue. In kṛṣṇa-līlā, many of the principal associates of Krishna, Radha and Krishna, are gopīs; they are in female forms. And in gaura-līlā, they take birth in male forms, mainly in brahman families. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took birth in a brahman family. And the same hierarchy that exists in Goloka, Vrindavan in kṛṣṇa-līlā also existed in gaura-līlā.

And one example is Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is Rati Mañjarī in kṛṣṇa-līlā. So he took birth in a very wealthy family. His father and uncle were like kings, very wealthy zamindars or landlords outside Calcutta. They had huge estate mansions, they had their own dock, their own port, very wealthy; and he was their only son. Anyway, it is a long story. He wanted to get free from the entanglements of household life, and it was not easy but he really, really wanted to join Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Anyway, by the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, he eventually escaped, and he joined Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu placed him under the care of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. Svarupa Damodara Gosvami was Lord Chaitanya’s personal secretary or assistant, and Raghunatha dasa was Damodara’s assistant. So, Prabhupada said he was the assistant, personal secretary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

And then after Lord Chaitanya and His intimate associates in Puri left, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami felt completely bereft, distraught, and he felt he could not live without them. So he decided to go to Vrindavan where Rupa and Sanatana were based, and to give up his body by jumping from Govardhana Hill. So he went there. First, he wanted to offer respects to Rupa and Sanatana, and they told him, “You had so much personal association with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri. You shouldn’t give up your body. You should stay with us, and every day, you can speak to us about the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri.” And they accepted him as their younger brother. And so, he became very attached to them, especially Rupa Gosvami, very attached to Rupa Gosvami. And then when Rupa Gosvami eventually left, he again felt devastated. And he so much loved Govardhana Hill and Radha-kunda, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, but in the absence of Rupa Gosvami after he left, he said that to him, Govardhana Hill was like a python. Anyway, he felt great separation, but he continued. He lived until an old age and left books for us, excavated Radha-kunda, did so many things. So, we see in this example that he wanted to serve Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that was his goal. He wanted to escape from the shackles of family life to join Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and by the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and others, he did. But when he got to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu placed him under the care of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. And then, after Svarupa Damodara Gosvami left, he took shelter of Rupa Gosvami.

Now, in kṛṣṇa-līlā, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, depending how you view Him, is Radharani or Krishna or Radha-Krishna. But he wasn’t directly serving Srimati Radharani, but he was serving under Svarupa Damodara Gosvami who is Lalita devi. Lalita devi is the most intimate girlfriend, sakhī, of Srimati Radharani. But he also didn’t serve directly under Lalita devi, but he served under Rupa Gosvami who is Rupa Mañjarī. And that is like the transcendental hierarchy in kṛṣṇa-līlā. And the same hierarchy existed in caitanya-līlā, except instead of being in the form of ladies, of gopīs, Radharani, Lalita devi, Rupa Mañjarī, they were in the form of men, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami.

So in ISKCON too, there may also be a similar phenomenon. Say, in the case of Tamal Krishna Goswami, he was, you could say, Srila Prabhupada’s main secretary, certainly one of the main secretaries. And he would function in the capacity of helping people approach Srila Prabhupada and helping guide them, train them, make them better servants of Srila Prabhupada. Devotees have reported experiences after Tamal Krishna Goswami left in which he was functioning in a similar capacity like Srila Prabhupada’s secretary, and visiting them in a subtle form. I don’t want to make too much of the specifics of the relationships, but I could say confidently that if our relationship with Srila Prabhupada is eternal, if we are in that line of Srila Prabhupada and our relationship with him is eternal, then our relationships with the other servants of Srila Prabhupada who have eternal relationships with him are also eternal. Srila Prabhupada did say that we will have another ISKCON in the spiritual sky. I heard that he said, “No GBC,” then someone said, “Well, maybe the GBC will be the six Gosvamis.” [laughter]

Now this statement, “There will be another ISKCON in the spiritual sky,” comes from a letter that Srila Prabhupada wrote that was very instructive. And the letter was written to Tushta Krishna dasa, who had been. . . This is a little history here but anyway. There was a devotee named Saie, and he was initiated. And somehow, he had read Prabhupada’s books, and he started his own movement in Hawaii based on Srila Prabhupada’s books, and they would chant Hare Krishna, and read Prabhupada’s books, distribute Prabhupada’s books. But he had a mellow approach, and I think he had a farm community. He had good ideas, he wanted to be self-sufficient and not be too heavy on people but let them come and have a good experience and gradually accept what they could.

So, when Saie took initiation, most of his followers also took initiation from Srila Prabhupada, and one of them was Tushta Krishna Prabhu. So, Tushta Krishna Prabhu wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada, and I haven’t read his letter to Srila Prabhupada, but Srila Prabhupada’s letter alludes to Tushta Krishna Prabhu’s letter. And in Prabhupada’s letter he says that, “In your letter, you write that this Siddha Svarupa is a pure devotee and he should be followed.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Anyone who is sincerely serving the spiritual master is a pure devotee. And if you distinguish that Siddha Svarupa is a pure devotee and others, who are not Siddha Svarupa, are not pure devotees, you will create factions.” And he repeated that, “Anyone who sincerely follows the instructions of the spiritual masters is a pure devotee.” And then he said, “Why do you want to go back to Godhead only with Siddha Svarupa?” And then he mentioned Shyamasundara Prabhu who I think was the GBC. Anyway, he was one of the authorities under which Tushta Krishna Prabhu was placed. So he said, “Siddha Svarupa is a good soul. He will go back to Godhead, you will go back to Godhead, Shyamasundara will go back to Godhead, everyone will go back to Godhead, and we will have another ISKCON in the spiritual sky.” He said, “Only Mr. Nair, he will not go.” [laughter] Mr. Nair was the owner of the Juhu land who tried to cheat Srila Prabhupada and harass the devotees. And actually, Tushta Krishna Prabhu was the first one to meet him. So, he said, “You will go, Satsvarupa will go, Shyamasundara will go, everyone will go. Only Mr. Nair will not go. And we will have another ISKCON in the spiritual sky.”

So, we are here to practice our devotional service so that we can perfect our service and go back to Godhead. And as quoted in the verse from the Fifth Canto, “The perfectional stage of devotional service cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees.” So, we want to perfect our service here so that we will be eligible to do service in the spiritual world. And to do that, we have to be blessed by the dust of the lotus feet of the Lord’s pure devotee. And as Tamal Krishna Goswami once exclaimed to Srila Prabhupada in Srila Prabhupada’s last days, “Srila Prabhupada, the devotees love you so much.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate after I leave, to maintain this institution.”

So yes, we can get the mercy of the pure devotee, of the spiritual master by chanting sixteen rounds, following the regulated principles, doing everything that we are meant to do as devotees. But beyond that, we are also meant to preach, and to preach means that we have to work cooperatively. And that cooperative effort to spread Krishna consciousness is really what will please Srila Prabhupada and the paramparā. Because in the spiritual world, we have to cooperate. Can you imagine Lalita devi calls for some mañjarī “Please, we need camphor.” So, one mañjarī says, “Hey, you! Look, I am going to bring the camphor, you get out of the way.” [laughter] Then he said, “No, this is my service. You have some other service.” And in the meantime, they get embroiled in their own quarreling, and Lalita devi is waiting for the camphor for Radha and Krishna, like sometimes it happens here. [laughter]

So yes, we have to practice working cooperatively, we have to practice developing the mood of being the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopīs, damsels of Vrindavan. Of course, there may be little altercations, differences or disagreements. that is natural, and that is not a problem; that is not a problem in and of itself but there should be no disruption to the service. There can be differences of opinion, it is not a problem. And Srila Prabhupada said, even in the spiritual world there are different camps, but the goal is how to please Krishna best. And whatever anyone does in the spiritual world is for Krishna’s pleasure, there is no other motive than to make Krishna happy. But there may be a difference of opinion as to how to make Krishna happy.

You might have heard, vāmā-bhāva and dakṣiṇā-bhāva, the right-wing gopīs and the left-wing gopīs. [laughter] So yes, they have different ideas. The right-wing gopīs, dakṣiṇā-bhāva, they are more submissive and docile and they feel that is the best way to please Krishna. And the left-wing gopīs, vāmā-bhāva, they are more contrary and they believe Krishna is more pleased when you are contrary, when you don’t just easily, and submissively, and docilely, agree what He wants. So even in the spiritual world, there are different perspectives on how best to please Krishna, but the only motive is to please Krishna. There is no other motive and Krishna is in fact pleased with all of the devotees in Goloka, Vrindavan in all of their different moods, and He relishes their service and devotion to Him. So, that is natural that we are all individuals, we have individual realizations of Krishna consciousness, we have individual approaches to devotional service, that is not a problem.

I remember one story that His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami told here one year, that he was visiting Tamal Krishna Goswami in Cambridge. And, they were taking prasāda together, and Tamal Krishna Goswami was not at all satisfied with the service, and he was being very heavy on the cook and the server. And Ṛtadhvaja Swami said to Tamal Krishna Goswami, “I don’t think I could ever be a guru because I could never deal with my servants the way you deal with your servants.” [laughter] And Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “You don’t have to deal with them the way I do.” [laughter] “You be a guru in your way, and I will be a guru in my way. I will train them in my way, you train them in your way.” So this is individuality.

Another story that comes to mind, another incident that comes to mind was, there was a very wealthy man, very well-respected and reputed in Bombay, apart from his own personal wealth, he was the head of the Trimurti organization in Bombay, some Hindu cultural association, very well reputed and respected. So people were saying, “Oh, you should meet him, make him a life member.” So in those days, there were only, maybe three, real high-rise apartment buildings in Bombay, and he lived at the top of one of them. So Tamal Krishna Goswami went to make him a life member, and he was very convincing, he had a very convincing approach. But this Mr. Bhatia didn’t want to become a life member. And at the end, Tamal Krishna Goswami looked at him and said, “You know, Mr. Bhatia, I am glad you didn’t become a life member, because we don’t want people like you as members of our society.” [laughter] And he packed away all of his books and the photos and everything, put them in his briefcase and stormed out of the apartment and he pressed the button for the lift and was waiting for it to come. And Mr. Bhatia came running out, “Please, Swamiji, please, Swamiji, I want to become your member, please accept me, I want to become your member.” [laughter] “Well, okay.” [laughter] So Tamal Krishna Goswami went back in and Mr. Bhatia signed the forms and became a member.

Now, I made many life members in Bombay, but I could not make a member like that. [laughter] I might have been able to make Mr. Bhatia a member, I don’t know, but if I did, it wouldn’t have been that way. [laughter] But he became a member, that was the main thing, he became a member and Tamal Krishna Goswami made him a member in his way. I might have been able to make him a member in my way, or maybe not, someone else might have made him a member in his way, or maybe not. So we all will have our individual natures, our individual realizations of Krishna consciousness, our individual ways of doing things, but the main thing is that our goal should be to please guru and Krishna. And in that process of pleasing them, we have to work cooperatively because that is what pleases them. And so, working cooperatively is part of pleasing them, along with chanting, reading, worshiping the deity, taking prasāda, not talking prajalpaḥ, not eating bhoga and all the other things that form principles of our personal practice. Because that is what we will do in the spiritual world. We will be part of a cooperative effort, and the ultimate goal of that effort is to make Krishna happy. And that is the goal of our effort here, so this is just practice. And as Srila Prabhupada said, “If you are in high school, and you are doing college level work, you can be promoted to college.” So in the same way, if you are in the material world, and you are doing the same activities of the spiritual world, you can be promoted to the spiritual world.” So, these are the activities of the spiritual world. But we have to perfect our performance of those activities, our personal sadhana and our cooperative effort to spread Krishna consciousness.

So now, I would like to invite one or two devotees to speak little bit. When I arrived here, these two brahmacharis – Nandan Kishore and Sakshi Gopal greeted me and told me that they had gone out and distribute books yesterday. They are very eager to tell me about some of their experiences, so I thought that they could tell me in your presence. In that way, you all could get to share some of their experiences. So would either or both of you like to say something? Would you like to stand up?

[An eleven-year-old boy, Nandan Kishore, shares his experience of book distribution with Sakshi Gopal.]

So, this is the saṅkīrtana movement. Well, one little branch of it. And yes, especially in the West, Srila Prabhupada really wanted us to distribute his books. Anjanasuta Prabhu here and Danakeli Prabhu, together they are promoting book distribution on the weekend, it is like weekend warriors. So they set up book tables on the weekend, and devotees can join them. There are other ways, so that is a way of pleasing Krishna. Once, Tamal Krishna Goswami said that he could speak about whatever the verse was, in whatever scripture it was, he could speak about saṅkīrtana and relate it to the verse. Because he said that all of our scriptures are ultimately about bhakti, and bhakti means to please Krishna, and saṅkīrtana pleases Krishna the most. So whatever verse it is, he could relate it to saṅkīrtana.

So thank you gentlemen, very nice. [applause] And we hope your example of fearlessness and courage, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and quick thinking, and talking, will serve as an example and inspiration for all of us. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So where is our host? Very good. Yes, so we will have Nṛsiṁha ārati, pray to Lord vāmā-bhāva dakṣiṇā-bhāva to protect us in our devotional service and protect us from the external and internal demons.