CC Adi 3.102–110

Giriraj Swami: We shall continue our discussion of Sri Advaita Acharya and His desire to induce the Lord to appear to deliver the fallen souls, who were so engrossed in material thoughts and activities, by introducing the yuga-dharma of hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Sri hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana ki jaya!

So, we shall continue where we left off yesterday. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Three, The External Reasons for Lord Caitanya’s Appearance.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

TEXT 102

āniyā kṛṣṇere karoṅ kīrtana sañcāra
tabe se ‘advaita’ nāma saphala āmāra

TRANSLATION

“My name, ‘Advaita,’ will be fitting if I am able to induce Kṛṣṇa to inaugurate the movement of the chanting of the holy name.”

TEXT 103

kṛṣṇa vaśa karibena kon ārādhane
vicārite eka śloka āila tāṅra mane

TRANSLATION

While He was thinking about how to propitiate Kṛṣṇa by worship, the following verse came to His mind.

TEXT 104

tulasī-dala-mātreṇa
jalasya culukena vā
vikrīṇīte svam ātmānaṁ
bhaktebhyo bhakta-vatsalaḥ

TRANSLATION

“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is very affectionate toward His devotees, sells Himself to a devotee who offers Him merely a tulasī leaf and a palmful of water.”

PURPORT

This is a verse from the Gautamīya-tantra.

TEXTS 105–106

ei ślokārtha ācārya karena vicāraṇa
kṛṣṇake tulasī-jala deya yei jana

tāra ṛṇa śodhite kṛṣṇa karena cintana —
‘jala-tulasīra sama kichu ghare nāhi dhana’

TRANSLATION

Advaita Ācārya considered the meaning of the verse in this way: “Not finding any way to repay the debt He owes to one who offers Him a tulasī leaf and water, Lord Kṛṣṇa thinks, ‘There is no wealth in My possession that is equal to a tulasī leaf and water.’

TEXTS 107

tabe ātmā veci’ kare ṛṇera śodhana
eta bhāvi’ ācārya karena ārādhana

TRANSLATION

“Thus the Lord liquidates the debt by offering Himself to the devotee.” Considering in this way, the Ācārya began worshiping the Lord.

PURPORT

Through devotional service one can easily please Lord Kṛṣṇa with a leaf of the tulasī plant and a little water. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.26), a leaf, a flower, a fruit or some water (patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam), when offered with devotion, very much pleases Him. He universally accepts the services of His devotees. Even the poorest of devotees in any part of the world can secure a small flower, fruit or leaf and a little water, and if these offerings, and especially tulasī leaves and Ganges water, are offered to Kṛṣṇa with devotion, He is very satisfied. It is said that Kṛṣṇa is so much pleased by such devotional service that He offers Himself to His devotee in exchange for it. Śrīla Advaita Ācārya knew this fact, and therefore He decided to call for the Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa to descend by worshiping the Lord with tulasī leaves and the water of the Ganges.

TEXT 108

gaṅgā-jala, tulasī-mañjarī anukṣaṇa
kṛṣṇa-pāda-padma bhāvi’ kare samarpaṇa

TRANSLATION

Thinking of the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, He constantly offered tulasī buds in water from the Ganges.

TEXT 109

kṛṣṇera āhvāna kare kariyā huṅkāra
e-mate kṛṣṇere karāila avatāra

TRANSLATION

He appealed to Śrī Kṛṣṇa with loud calls and thus made it possible for Kṛṣṇa to appear.

TEXT 110

caitanyera avatāre ei mukhya hetu
bhaktera icchāya avatare dharma-setu

TRANSLATION

Therefore the principal reason for Śrī Caitanya’s descent is this appeal by Advaita Ācārya. The Lord, the protector of religion, appears by the desire of His devotee.

COMMENT

Now, when we read these verses about Advaita Acharya’s worship of the Lord with tulasi leaves and mañjarīs and Ganges water, we could think, Well, we also have Salagrama-śilās, and we also worship the Lord with tulasi leaves and Ganges water. But when we worship the Lord with the same ingredients, the Lord doesn’t appear. Why? Well, there are some other requirements besides just the external offering of patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ, and the first requirement is bhakti.

TEXT 26

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

COMMENT

If one offers Krishna a leaf, a fruit, a flower, or some water with love and devotion, He will accept it. And our love and devotion is manifested in our care and attention in our service.

Yesterday, when I came to offer guru-puja to Srila Prabhupada, I was struck by how beautiful the ārati tray was. I mean, each item of the ārati tray, the different plates and bowls themselves were of very high quality. Whoever did the shopping got very good items. They were brilliantly polished, so shiny and bright. They were placed very meticulously on the plate in the order in which they were to be offered. It was a minor work of art, and I was stunned by seeing the devotion that went into the apparently simple act of preparing the ārati tray.

Then I thought of an incident with Srila Prabhupada in Bombay in 1972. Srila Prabhupada had entered into an agreement to purchase the Juhu land, but the landlord was trying to cheat him. He took a deposit from Srila Prabhupada, but then refused to sell Prabhupada the land, but at the same time, he was holding onto the deposit, which was quite a big sum in India then. Anyway, Srila Prabhupada was temporarily staying in a house of a life member that was being constructed. It was almost ready, but not completely ready, and Srila Prabhupada was staying upstairs.

Early in the morning, maybe six or six-thirty in the morning, just as the sun was. . . Actually, the sun had not risen yet, but there was a little light in the sky, and Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his room with a few senior disciples, and a very unexpected person, I don’t know where he came from or how he even knew Srila Prabhupada was in the house. He came up to the second floor, and he was obviously a laborer. You could just tell by his sort of dark complexion, very muscular. He just wore a little white piece of cloth around his waist, didn’t come below his knees, and he just walked into the room and walked to Srila Prabhupada’s desk. Srila Prabhupada always sat behind a low table, like you see upstairs. He placed a bunch of flowers on the table, bowed down, stood up, and walked out. And Srila Prabhupada was so affected by that humble offering, he was speechless. I mean, he had been speaking to some senior devotees in the room, but he could not continue, he just was stunned.

And then he quoted the verse, patraṁ puṣhpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayachchhati, that this humble laborer somehow knew that Prabhupada was there, went in the early morning when there was just a little hint of light in the sky, found flowers from here and there, many different varieties of flowers, and came up and offered them, and bowed down. And Srila Prabhupada quoted the verse and said, “Even Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is touched by a simple offering of flowers, and I’m just an insignificant living entity, so how much more will I be affected?”

So, this is the real element, the bhakti, the sincere devotion. Many people worship, but they have different motives. That humble laborer just offered the flowers, bowed down, and left. But many people come to God to make business with Him. They feel if they give something to God, they’ll get something more in return. So, it becomes an investment.

There is one temple in India at Tirupati, the Deity is called Venkateshwara, or more commonly Balaji, and He is famous in India for giving material boons to worshipers. And every day, literally hundreds of thousands of worshipers come to see Him and put money in the box, the hundi, many with the thought that they’ll get much more in return in the future. Even politicians go there in the hopes of winning the election. Even from Mauritius, the Prime Minister went to Balaji to get blessings to win the election. And in India, they do it too. So, this is not bhakti, this is business.

Srila Prabhupada had a very good friend in Bombay, Mr. Brijratan Mohatta. He was a very intelligent man, very affluent, very supportive, but he had some ideas, he hadn’t yet understood the spirit of pure devotion. So, just before the Juhu temple opened, he went to Srila Prabhupada and said, “Prabhupada, if you want to get a lot of collections in the hundi box, you have to spread the rumor that people who give money to the Deities here, Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari, they get more back in return.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, this is against our principles. We don’t do business with the Deity.”

They even have jokes in India. The Vedic culture, I guess it’s everywhere. But anyway, there is one story that a man went to the Deity and he prayed to the Lord, “Dear Lord, I’m going to the races to bet on a horse, and if I win a lakh of rupees (one hundred thousand rupees), I will give You half.” So, the man went, bet on his horse, and won fifty thousand rupees. He went back to the Lord and prayed, “Lord, You didn’t trust me. You took Your half first!”

So, people not only do business with the Lord, straight business, they are also crooked. They make a deal with the Lord and then try to cheat. So, that type of worship will not make the Lord feel so indebted to His devotee that He feels the only way He can repay His devotee is by giving Himself.

So, there are many very important words embedded in these few verses that we just read. In the first verse, it says gaṅgā-jala, tulasī-mañjarī anukṣaṇa. Anukṣaṇa means constantly. Advaita Acharya was constantly worshiping the Lord. It was His complete purpose. He was so fixed in His intention that His worship of the Lord was constant. So, that is also our goal, that is part of the definition of pure devotional service.

TEXT 167

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

COMMENT

ānuśīlanaṃ—śīlanaṃ means cultivation, and ānu can mean to follow. We cultivate pure devotional service following the instructions of sadhu-shastra-guru, following the previous acharyas. But ānu also means continuous. Ahaituky apratihatā, unmotivated and uninterrupted. We do devotional service for some time every day, but then we also do other things. Everything should be done in the mood of service to Krishna.

So, this ānuśīlanaṃ means continuous cultivation, or in another place in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Lord Chaitanya says nirantara, talking about devotees chanting. Nirantara, without cessation, continuous. It doesn’t mean that we can’t take time to maintain our bodies, because we have to. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that engaging in necessary activities for the maintenance of the body is not a violation of the principle of continuous devotional service, or kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, chanting the holy name constantly. It doesn’t mean that we don’t bathe, brush our teeth, dress properly, eat as required, take rest as required. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā, one should not eat too much or eat too little, sleep too much or sleep too little. But it should be done in the mood of service to Krishna, “I have to keep the body and soul fit to serve Krishna, not that I have to keep the body fit to enjoy sense gratification.” It’s a matter of consciousness.

I have been reading the book Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava by His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami, a wonderful book, and he quoted one incident in which a disciple had complained to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati that he didn’t have time to complete his quota of rounds. He was sort of asking permission to do less. So, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta replied, “No, you have to complete your quota. You can eat less or sleep less, but you have to complete your quota.” And then the disciple said, “But I see other devotees are not finishing their quota.”

Now, this quota was higher than our quota of sixteen rounds. It was sixty-four rounds. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati replied, “You don’t see, but I see.” And then later, the disciple had the realization that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was seeing that these disciples were so fully absorbed in service to the mission that their service counted as good as hari-nāma because it was broadcasting the glories of the Lord. I mean, that was that disciple’s realization.

Anyway, that’s a little intricate topic about our quota, but in our case, Srila Prabhupada gave the quota of sixteen rounds, which gives us plenty of time to engage in practical service to the mission, which he wanted us to do. And it came out that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had also given different quotas to different disciples. In general, it was sixty-four rounds, but for some, it was sixteen, and for some, even four, depending on the situation. And in some cases, he said, “Just do what you can.”

But obviously in ISKCON, Prabhupada had set one standard for everyone, and the standard was sixteen rounds. And that was Srila Prabhupada’s standard when he was in grihastha ashram, sixteen rounds. He told his servant, Hari Sauri, that every day, he had a principle that before breakfast, he would chant at least four rounds, before lunch, he would chant at least another four rounds, before dinner, he would chant another four rounds, and before taking rest, he would chant another four rounds. In that way, he was sure to complete his sixteen rounds every day. He broke it up into smaller numbers, and he just wouldn’t allow himself to eat unless he did his required number, and then he was sure to do it. So, this is determination, drdha-vrata. We have to have determination to keep up our vows, and that will make us strong, and that will attract Krishna’s attention and mercy.

So, coming back to this idea of continuous, yes, it doesn’t mean that we neglect the body or we don’t engage in activities required for living in the world, paying taxes. If you don’t pay your taxes, if you owe taxes, there will be trouble. There are different requirements imposed upon us by virtue of our having a material body and living in a society, and we have to meet those. But we should do so in a straightforward way that’s not too complicated, so that we can think of Krishna even while we are doing it.

There was another thing Bhaktisiddhanta said, and again, this was not for all of his disciples. He said, “If you can’t chant sixty-four rounds on your beads, then whatever you are doing, cleaning the temple or going here or there for service, whatever you are doing, just keep chanting while you are doing it, and it will add up. You’ll complete sixty-four even if you are not counting them on your beads.”

So, anyway, our quota is sixteen, and certainly, whatever Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura came to give in terms of Krishna consciousness we can get from Srila Prabhupada by following the instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave us.

So, this continuous cultivation, continuous chanting, continuous worshiping, doesn’t mean that we don’t take care of the necessities of life, but we should do so in a straightforward way that’s not too complicated, so we can think of Krishna. And our purpose should be to keep the body and soul together, and keep our affairs in order, so that we can serve Krishna. Then that counts as, or part of kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. And this is also in the verse gaṅgā-jala, tulasī-mañjarī anukṣaṇa, constantly. Kṛṣṇa-pāda-padma bhāvi’ kare samarpaṇa. Kṛṣṇa-pāda-padma bhāvi’ means thinking of the lotus feet of Krishna. That also is not so easy. It is easier to engage in service with our body. I mean, it depends on the service, but there are some services that we can do, engaging the body but not the mind. In other words, we do it externally.

Unfortunately, one of those is chanting the holy name. We can have our hand in our bead bag and our tongue engaged in chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, but our mind may be somewhere else. We could be cutting vegetables for the sacred service of the Lord, but our mind could be somewhere else. But Advaita Acharya’s mind was on the lotus feet of Krishna while He was doing His worship. Of course, He was a perfect devotee, nitya-siddha, more than a perfect devotee, He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself acting as a devotee. We are in the stage of sadhana, and in the stage of sadhana, we can’t always think of Krishna. That’s our principle, to always remember Krishna and never forget Him, that’s our endeavor, our hope. So, we persevere.

Once, a disciple told Srila Prabhupada that when he cleans the temple, he is not thinking of Krishna, his mind is wandering. So, does his cleaning the temple even count as devotional service? And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, we are in the kingdom of maya. So, it is natural that maya will call us, ‘Come on, enjoy me. Come on, enjoy me.’ But if you don’t heed her call, if you continue with your service, eventually, she’ll stop calling.”

Just like someone is pursuing you by telephone. If you don’t answer the phone enough times, the person will get the idea, “Well, this person does not want to entertain me” and stop calling. So, maya is always calling us, “Come on, enjoy me,” offering us different varieties of gross and subtle sense gratification to please our senses and mind. So, those thoughts will come in our mind while we are engaged in service, but Srila Prabhupada said if we continue with our service and don’t heed her call, in other words, don’t act on the allurements that she is offering us, then eventually, she’ll stop calling.

So, we continue and pray for the mercy that we can actually focus on the holy name when we are chanting, we can actually think of Krishna while we are serving Him, either cleaning the temple, cutting vegetables, cooking, dressing Him, making garlands, or any variety of service. The care and attention to the service itself counts. That’s really what brings us to Krishna consciousness.

And I must say that I was very pleased by what I saw in the pūjārī area yesterday. Very clean, very orderly. It seemed that everything had its proper place and everything was in its proper place. There were a few leaves from the flowers on the floor of the hallway. First, I thought it was 100 percent, then I thought 98 percent, and then I saw some more leaves, and I thought maybe 95 percent. I went up to chant in Srila Prabhupada’s room, and then when I came down, I saw a devotee sweeping the floor. So, I thought, Well, okay, that’s good. So, that is very uplifting to the consciousness when the devotees are attentive and conscientious in their service. That’s how we show our devotion, and that’s how we develop our devotion. And then naturally, the more advanced stages of Krishna consciousness will follow.

And then the last word I want to comment on, which is in the next verse, 109, is huṅkāra. Huṅkāra means loud shouts. Srila Prabhupada actually had a disciple named Hunkara. I’d never heard the name, so I asked him what it meant, and he said, “Loud shouts.” The word is also used in relation to Lord Chaitanya’s dancing at the Ratha-yatra. He also called out to the Lord, or cried out to the Lord with loud shouts. So, this means there is great intensity, and that really makes all the difference. No matter what our level is, what our stage is, but if we engage in devotional service with intensity, then we get Krishna consciousness and Krishna.

There is another verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto,

TEXT 10

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta puruṣaṁ param

COMMENT

So, akāmaḥ means one who has no desires. A devotee has no desires, material desires, selfish desires. Sarva-kāmo, or full of desires, all sorts of desires. Mokṣa-kāma, or desirous of liberation. Tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena, if he engages in bhakti-yoga, tīvreṇa, that means with intensity, he can approach Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada comments on this verse, tivra is like the sun rays, unadulterated sun rays, very powerful, intense. Tapasya is related to the word tapa, and tapa is related to the word heat. So, we have to do some tapasya, and our basic tapasya is to engage in devotional service with intensity. And devotees who have been successful, every devotee is successful, but devotees who’ve been eminently successful have been very intense, or consistent.

I just thought of one case of our godbrother, Aindra Prabhu, who was very focused in hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, very intense. He would hardly eat or sleep. He was constantly chanting japa or kirtan and also reading. He was very knowledgeable in scripture. One devotee mentioned that once, he was in Aindra Prabhu’s room when Aindra was chanting japa, and at the end of finishing his rounds, he took his bead bag and threw it against the wall and exclaimed, “No taste!” That’s intensity. Maybe that’s our version of huṅkāra, loud shouts. But he had that desire. He wasn’t just going to let it go, he kept at it, he kept struggling.

And that’s our condition, every conditioned soul. That famous verse of Rupa Gosvami says that in the beginning, it’s like we are in a diseased condition, jaundiced condition. So, when we chant the holy name, forms, qualities, or pastimes of the Lord, we don’t relish the sweetness, because someone who has the disease and is jaundiced doesn’t taste sweet things as being sweet. He actually relishes bitter things. But the Ayurvedic cure for jaundice is sugar candy, rock candy, and even though the rock candy tastes bitter, but if the patient keeps taking it, he’ll gradually recover, and the sweetness of the rock candy, will be experienced as sweet, sweeter, sweeter, sweeter, until he can taste it as it is, as nectar.

So, that is our condition, and that disease is avidya, ignorance, ignorance of our actual position, that we are eternal servants of Krishna. So, we may say, “Well, I know that. I know I am not the body, I am part and parcel of Krishna. I know I am the eternal servant of Krishna, I know that.” But there is a difference between theoretical knowledge and practical realization. When we chant and our mind wanders, and if we take the time to analyze the thoughts we are entertaining in our mind, it generally comes back to the idea that we are the body, because we are thinking of so many things in relation to the body.

But I think I’m the perfect example. I don’t think I was on the hari-nāma for more than a half hour when I thought, I’m starting to feel a little hungry. I wonder how hungry I’ll be at the end of the hari-nāma and what’s going to be waiting for me when I get back. So, we know we are not the body theoretically, but practically, a lot of our thoughts and desires hover around the body. Or we think, I’m the enjoyer. I’m the controller. I’m the proprietor. And the thoughts that fill our mind are extensions of those ideas, thinking, I want to enjoy this. I want to get this so I can enjoy. I want to be able to control this. I don’t like this thing. Somebody is coming in my way. I’m not able to control things as I want. I want this thing. I am having trouble getting it. Of course, all those things can be dovetailed in Krishna’s service, but a lot of the time, the connection with Krishna is more remote, and the connection with our bodies and minds is more immediate. So, it means we have theoretical knowledge, but we haven’t really realized it. And it means we still are affected by ignorance, because we are identifying with the body and the world and things of the world and the body.

And so, it gives rise to the question, “What do we really want?” Again, I’ll use myself as an example. Towards the end of the hari-nāma, I thought, Boy, this is such an auspicious day, and we are on hari-nāma. I can pray to Advaita Acharya. I can ask for whatever I want. On their appearance days, our acharyas and incarnations of God are very mercifully disposed. So, I began, “Okay, pure devotional service. I want to be freed from lust and anger and greed and envy and pride.” And then I thought, Well, what would life be like if I was actually free from those things? If I really wanted to be free from them, why aren’t I free from them now? What would it be like if I wasn’t proud? I would be the servant of the servant of the servant. But do I really want to be the servant of the servant of the servant? Or do I want people to serve me? And then I thought, Of course, I want to be the servant of the servant of the servant. That’s our philosophy. Yeah, that’s your philosophy, that’s what the books say, but what do you really want?

So, these are things that we may confront as we endeavor to make progress. Again, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, or the effort to preach Krishna consciousness, is so powerful that it can wash away all these things. But we have to be consistent. I mean, I saw it in Juhu, and I am sure you see it here too. But we would get a certain crowd every Sunday. We would always get so many thousands of people on Sundays. But if, for example, Janmashtami fell in the middle of the week, the crowd on Sunday would be less, because so many Hindus or life members or whatever, their quota for going to the temple is once a week. So, they felt, “We’ve already been on Janmashtami, we don’t have to go on Sunday. We’ve already gone once a week. We’ve fulfilled our quota once a week.”

So, okay, we did hari-nāma last night, and it was great. I will discuss that a little later. We are almost at the end of the talk anyway. And there is another hari-nāma tonight, in Santa Monica, at the Third Street Promenade. So, how many are going to think, I already did hari-nāma last night. Why do I have to do it again tonight? So, this idea of consistency, being consistent.

But again, I don’t know the people that well. I don’t know what’s under the surface, but what I saw on the hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, people loved it. I mean, compared to when we used to go out on the streets in the sixties and seventies. I mean, people were smiling, they were saying, “Hare Krishna.” Some were even trying to chant with us, a lot of people were dancing, and if they happened to have drums, many stopped and played drums with us. So, in that sense, people were very receptive, and I thought, If we did this every day for hours, we would meet so many people, give them invitations, and they would be bound to come. Give them books. Some of them are bound to read the books. Some of them are bound to come. It really struck me that we could be growing and flourishing like in the sixties and seventies, but we would have to be consistent, we would have to just go out.

In those days, we had more resident devotees maintained by the temple. Now it’s a little different, but the principle is that it struck me that the more we are out there chanting the holy names and giving out books and invitations, the more people will read the books, the more they will come to the temple, the more they’ll become devotees. I mean, they really seem so receptive and so open and so happy to see us. But then we also have to think, What will they experience when they come here? And that’s also one question, because we want Krishna consciousness to be accessible to the people. Some people are naturally devotees. They may have been devotees in their past life. So, they come in and are just overwhelmed by the temple and love everything about it. But other people, without so much pious background, might just be curious, and they might benefit from a little more special treatment.

For a while in Durban, South Africa, His Holiness Indradyumna Swami was the temple president, and he had devotees out all-day distributing books, and when they distributed the books, they always got the name and phone number of the people who took the books, if they were willing to give it. And then by Friday or even Thursday, he would have them phone the people who had taken books during the week, specifically Europeans, to illustrate the point that some people require different treatment. I didn’t really look at the invitation card, but if it’s something like, “maṅgala-ārati 4:30 a.m. Srngara darshan, 7:00 a.m. Guru-puja. . .” It’s like, “Oh! What is this? What does all this mean?” If we want to attract new people, then we need an invitation card in a language that they can understand, and then a program that’s more accessible to them.

So, in Durban, say from Thursday, he had the devotees, the book distributors, start phoning the people and inviting them for the special program we had specifically for them on Saturday evening. The program was held in a very nice room, which we called the Prabhupada library, and there would be very mellow kirtan. Of course, Indradyumna Swami himself sings so beautifully. There would be a very mellow kirtan that people could appreciate. Not everyone, especially in the beginning, can relate to very fast, wild, exuberant kirtan.

Here we were talking about that mood of compassion that we discussed yesterday. It’s not just about our own ecstasy, it’s really about serving the Lord and the Lord’s mission and extending the Lord’s mercy to other people. So, it is mentioned in The Nectar of Devotion that Krishna had a servant, maybe Daruka, Krishna’s driver, who was fanning Him, and while fanning Krishna, the servant became so overwhelmed with ecstasy, he started to tremble and tears came in his eyes. But then, he checked his ecstatic symptoms because they were interfering with his service of fanning Krishna. So, that’s pure devotion. Yes, ecstasy comes, and we are happy when it comes, but the real goal is always to serve and please Krishna. So, we might have to check our own exuberance in the kirtan. Of course, that can be dangerous too, but sometimes something slow and mellow is more suitable for new people.

So, that was the Saturday evening program we had specially for the European people. The first kirtan would be very slow and mellow and melodious, and then Indradyumna Swami or whoever was there would give an introductory talk, very simple, in a language that the audience could understand, mainly about the holy name and the importance of chanting. And then the second kirtan, the last kirtan after the talk, I think he would get them to stand up. You have to judge what the audience can do, but in the second kirtan, he’d have them stand up and get them to dance. And then there would be a fabulous feast served in the restaurant. From whatever time it was, they’d close off a major section of the restaurant and serve this fabulous feast.

He would really train all the devotees how to dress, how to look nice, how to serve, and it was such a fantastic experience, people wanted to come back. It was sort of hard to get through to those Europeans then. Krishna consciousness was relatively new, and there was apartheid, and they were the rulers, but at the same time, they were nervous about the idea that they were going to overthrow us? It was pretty tense. But they just had such a good experience.

So that is something to consider. Just go out, give people appropriate invitations, and invite them, maybe not just to the daily program, but maybe have a special program for new people that’s designed to make it easier for them to relate to Krishna consciousness and devotees. I never saw so many happy, smiling faces in a period of two hours as I did last night. It was really wonderful. Hare Krishna.

Amala-bhakta dasa: Are you aware of any specific instances when Srila Prabhupada instructed his disciples to chant more than sixteen rounds?

Giriraj Swami: I am not aware of any time that Srila Prabhupada told a disciple that he or she must chant more than sixteen rounds. It was recommended on Ekādaśī to chant twenty-five rounds, but reading Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, I realized that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s mission, although very similar to ISKCON, was fairly localized in India. It wasn’t abroad. And even within India, it was more concentrated in Bengal and Orissa. So, he spent a lot of time with his disciples, and because the distances were not so great, even if he didn’t visit all the centers in India or in Bengal, it was easy enough for disciples to come to where he was. So, they had a lot of personal association with him that was hard for many of Prabhupada’s disciples because they were all over the United States, all over the world. And so, he gave a lot of more individualized instructions, which Srila Prabhupada couldn’t do. It could not have worked, but he certainly said we could increase the number.

There is a very interesting walk with His Holiness Lokanatha Swami and Srila Prabhupada on Juhu Beach. Lokanatha Swami asked, “Srila Prabhupada, why have you prescribed sixteen rounds?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I have not prescribed sixteen rounds. No! No! Minimum sixteen. I have not prescribed sixteen rounds, minimum sixteen.” And Prabhupada said, “If you can do more, that’s most welcome, but minimum sixteen.” And then Lokanatha Swami said, “Well, why did you prescribe minimum sixteen? There are devotees who are prescribing for themselves other minimums.” And Prabhupada said, “But who’s stopping them? You can increase the minimum above sixteen, but you should not decrease it below sixteen.”

And then Lokanatha Swami asked, “Well, how do we know if we are imitating Haridasa Thakura or following in his footsteps?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Imitation is also good. If you imitate Haridasa Thakura, that is also good.” Then someone said, “What if there is service to be done and then the devotees would refuse service on the ground they have to finish their rounds?” Prabhupada said, “If someone approaches you for some service and you say, ‘I can’t do it. I am busy imitating Haridasa Thakura,’ that is not good, that is very bad.”

So, I think that was the idea, increase. So much depends on time, place, and circumstance, but as we grow older, we might not have the physical capacity to do as much active, physically demanding service as we did before, so then we can chant more or read and write. But I am not aware of Prabhupada specifically ordering a disciple to chant more than sixteen rounds. It’s very interesting.

According to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura thought it was more important for householders to chant sixty-four rounds than for the devotees in the Matha, because the devotees in the Matha were engaged in service to the mission, so it was easier for them to think of Krishna because they were engaged in His service. Whereas the householders who were not so engaged, how would they think of Krishna? They should just chant extra rounds.

But do we chant fewer rounds because we are busy serving the mission, or because we have to gossip or have to read the latest news? That is for each of us to see. That came up a lot in this discussion about Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, about how many rounds. We don’t have taste, that may be the problem. But by forcing ourselves to chant and serve in different ways, we develop taste. We do have more taste for other things. But again, coming back to the hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, nagara-saṅkīrtana, not many things could compare with that. You got everything.

So, I think Prabhupada was such a spiritual genius, such an empowered servant of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his Guru Maharaja that he knew just how to engage us. Ultimately, everything depends on mercy. We make our efforts, but ultimately, everything depends on mercy. And by going out and distributing the holy name, distributing the message of Krishna, and bringing people to Krishna consciousness, we get the maximum mercy, and it really all depends on mercy.

I have realized that in my own life, even reading this book, Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, which I recommend to all devotees, preached at a different time, to a different audience, and dealt with a different type of person. What Prabhupada did for us is just perfect. He emphasized preaching, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, book distribution, bṛhat-mṛdaṅga, brhat-kirtana. If we just do that, we will be fine. But we have to do it, and we have to be consistent. If we just do that, we will get everything, everything that those mathavasis got by chanting sixty-four rounds, or what they did in their time, we’ll get it all. I am confident of that. Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Yuga-dharma Sri hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana ki jaya! Hare Krishna.