SB 4.21.16 – Instructions by Maharaja Prthu

Bhurijana Prabhu:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 16

vyūḍha-vakṣā bṛhac-chroṇir
vali-valgu-dalodaraḥ
āvarta-nābhir ojasvī
kāñcanorur udagra-pāt

COMMENT

So, this is describing the. . . this verse describes the countenance of Maharaja Pṛthu, how he looks, his beauty. The previous verses have also described Maharaja Pṛthu’s beauty, as he sat in the midst of the assembly of his citizens, and sages, and powerful Vaishnavas. He was going to speak to them. He had performed a sacrifice, and so many of the Chapters in this Fourth Canto, so much of the Fourth Canto describes the activities of Maharaja Pṛthu. So, when something is emphasized by a great quantity of verses and Chapters, we can understand the importance of the subject matter. So, Pṛthu Maharaja is so important, he is śakty-āveśa. The shakti of the Supreme Lord, of Krishna, has entered within him for the purpose of performing specific duties, and for the purpose of instructing us.

So here, again the description of Maharaja Pṛthu. So, the chest of Maharaja Pṛthu was very broad. He was a kshatriya, a king, a warrior; he was so powerful. His waist was very thick and his abdomen, wrinkled by lines of skin, resembled the construction, the leaf of a banyan tree. So, our acharya Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains the comparison of how Maharaja Pṛthu’s body resembles the leaf of a banyan tree, because if the point of the banyan tree, the leaf is down, it’s shaped like this. So Maharaja Pṛthu, his physical construction was his chest was very broad, like the top of the banyan tree leaf; and his waist, it was moving down into a thinner size. So, the construction of his body was very powerful and very attractive. He was carrying the Lord’s potency. His navel was coiled and deep, and his thighs were of a golden hue, a golden color, and his instep was arched. His feet, his lotus feet were very beautiful.

TEXT 17

The black, slick hair on his head was very fine and curly, and his neck, like a conchshell, was decorated with auspicious lines. He wore a very valuable dhotī, and there was a nice wrapper on the upper part of his body.

TEXT 18

As Mahārāja Pṛthu was being initiated to perform the sacrifice, he had to leave aside his valuable dress, and therefore his natural bodily beauty was visible.

COMMENT

He took off all his fancy jewelry and the many, many chaddars, and put on the simple clothing required for him to perform the sacrifice, and his beauty was even more apparent when he did that.

TEXT 18

It was very pleasing to see him put on a black deerskin and wear a ring of kuśa grass on his finger, for this increased the natural beauty of his body. It appears that Mahārāja Pṛthu observed all the regulative principles before he performed the sacrifice.

COMMENT

He was so effulgent, and pure, and attractive.

TEXT 19

Just to encourage the members of the assembly and to enhance their pleasure.

COMMENT

He wanted to increase the pleasure of all the citizens and sages who had assembled to participate in the sacrifice. And, he was going to speak, and his words were very powerful, and he was going to increase their pleasure.

TEXT 19

To enhance their pleasure, King Pṛthu glanced over them.

COMMENT

He looked at all the members of the assembly who were present.

TEXT 19

King Pṛthu glanced over them with eyes that seemed like stars in a sky wet with dew.

COMMENT

Like the morning dew, his eyes were almost tearful.

TEXT 19

He then spoke to them in a great voice.

COMMENT

Now this verse, the verse that’s been placed on today, because this verse has a purport, even though it’s quite short. So, I’ll read one line, and please repeat after me.

TEXT 20

cāru citra-padaṁ ślakṣṇaṁ
mṛṣṭaṁ gūḍham aviklavam
sarveṣām upakārārthaṁ
tadā anuvadann iva

COMMENT

Because there are other verses as well, I’ll just read the translation.

TRANSLATION

Mahārāja Pṛthu’s speech was very beautiful, full of metaphorical language, clearly understandable and very pleasing to hear. His words were all grave and certain. It appears that when he spoke, he expressed his personal realization of the Absolute Truth in order to benefit all who were present.

COMMENT

He was expressing the depth of his own realization about the Absolute Truth, for the benefit of everyone who was present, because they had the ability, they were able to hear what he said. Now, here is Srila Prabhupada’s purport to this verse, so please listen carefully for the benefit of ourselves.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Mahārāja Pṛthu was beautiful in his external bodily features, and his speech was also very glorious in all respects. His words, which were nicely composed in highly metaphorical ornamental language, were pleasing to hear and were not only mellow but also very clearly understandable and without doubt or ambiguity.

COMMENT

[Unintelligible 0:09:29] And now, we’ll read the next verse as well, because the purport with Srila Prabhupada’s words are more plentiful. This is the first thing that King Pṛthu said.

TEXT 21

King Pṛthu said: O gentle members of the assembly, may all good fortune be upon you! May all of you great souls who have come to attend this meeting kindly hear my prayer attentively. A person who is actually inquisitive must present his decision before an assembly of noble souls.

Giriraj Swami: I’m going to read this again. There is some wonderful points in this, that Srila Prabhupada will expand on in his purport.

TEXT 21

King Pṛthu said: O gentle members of the assembly, may all good fortune be upon you! May all of you great souls who have come to attend this meeting kindly hear my prayer attentively. A person who is actually inquisitive must present his decision before an assembly of noble souls.

Bhurijana Prabhu: So, it is Maharaja Pṛthu speaking about himself, that he wants to present his conclusions before the assembly of learned souls, who sit before him. Now here is Srila Prabhupada’s purport.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In this verse the word sādhavaḥ, “all great souls,” is very significant.

COMMENT

So, when Srila Prabhupada says that, it is very significant, what should we do? Yes, we should listen very carefully. If someone before they speak say, what I’m going to tell you is insignificant and has no meaning, that we could all just close our eyes and take a little nap. But when Prabhupada says this is very significant, our ears perk up and our consciousness immediately awakens, because this is going to be very helpful for us.

PURPORT (continued)

In this verse the word sādhavaḥ, “all great souls,” is very significant.

COMMENT

Please listen carefully.

PURPORT (continued)

When a person is very great and famous, many unscrupulous persons become his enemies, for envy is the nature of materialists. In any meeting there are different classes of men, and therefore it is to be supposed that because Pṛthu Mahārāja was very great, he must have had several enemies present in the assembly, although they could not express themselves. Mahārāja Pṛthu, however, was concerned with persons who were gentle, and therefore he first addressed all the honest persons, not caring for the envious. He did not, however, present himself as a royal authority empowered to command everyone, for he wanted to present his statement in humble submission before the assembly of great sages and saintly persons. As a great king of the entire world, he could have given them orders, but he was so humble, meek and honest that he presented his statement for approval in order to clarify his mature decision. Everyone within this material world is conditioned by the modes of material nature and therefore has four defects. But although Pṛthu Mahārāja was above all these, still, like an ordinary conditioned soul, he presented his statements to the great souls, sages and saintly persons present there.

COMMENT

You say oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya [Unintelligible 0:14:32]

Giriraj Swami:

[Prayers]

Bhurijana Prabhu: What do you remember from what I read, of Prabhupada’s purport? It’s a great question. What do you remember from what I read? Yes Prabhu, thank you.

Devotee: The word sādhavaḥ is very important.

Bhurijana Prabhu: Ah, the word sādhavaḥ is very important. Thank you very much. Does anyone remember the importance of the word sādhavaḥ? Yes?

Devotee: Pṛthu Maharaja only addressed to those that are non-envious, friendly, [Unintelligible 0:17:00]

Bhurijana Prabhu: He was only addressing those who were sādhavaḥs, and Prabhupada says in this purport, he was only concerned with persons who are gentle. And, he is putting as opposite of gentle those who are envious. There are those who are gentle and those who are envious. So, the gentle people. . . And therefore, he addressed all the honest persons, not caring for the envious. Why wouldn’t someone care for the envious? Because one would think that if they are if envious and if I satisfy them, then they won’t be envious any longer. But why isn’t this true? Or why isn’t this accurate? Because if someone has envy within their heart, you cannot satisfy them. This is the very nature of envy, it is unsatisfiable.

And envy, what does envy means, first of all? Envy means, according to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, it means, and also sense of other traditions, it means that when something bad happens to someone, you think that is very good. And when something good happens to someone, of course you say, “Oh, I’m so happy,” but inside, when we have envy in our heart, when something good happens to someone, what do we think? What do we think? Oh no! When something bad happens, we become happy, no matter what we say, our words of condolence. When something good happens, we actually become sad.

Now, this is the nature of an envious person. And therefore, he must always be miserable, because good things are always happening to people. And therefore, Srila Narottama dasa Thakura compares having an envious heart to having a spear in the heart. Can one possibly be happy if one has a spear implanted in his heart? No! There’ll always be so much pain regardless of what else he does! So similarly, a person who is envious, naturally is pained and very unhappy. And, the only thing he thinks that will make him happy, is if everyone has only bad things happen to them, and I only have good things happen to me.

Now, who in existence only has good things happen to him? It’s basically Krishna. So, we already know all the sages present here, all gentle souls, we already know that envy begins with envy of Krishna, and also the very essence of ahankara or false ego, the very essence of a conditioned soul’s consciousness is envy or enmity with Krishna. And therefore, there is enmity with other living entities, with other souls. And therefore, Prabhupada would call, when he would call the animal slaughter that goes on in this world, that causes pain to others, to other living entities, other souls in the animal bodies, he would call that a product of the conditioned soul’s envy. It is enviousness of the animal, they don’t have the right to their own existence, because I want to eat them. They their existence is for my pleasure, that I will cause them unlimited suffering and kill them. So, it is such a terrible consciousness, that all that is important is me. Me being in the center, me being in the top most position.

Again, all conditioned souls, because of envy of Krishna, possess this consciousness; subtly or grossly. This is what it means to be a conditioned soul. So, Maharaja Pṛthu as Prabhupada said, he neglected these people, he didn’t care for their thoughts. His realizations that Srila Prabhupada explained were of the Absolute Truth, and he didn’t care and make his words any less, because of the presence of those who are envious, basically envious of Krishna, and therefore they would be envious of him, who had a specific duty to do for Krishna. His duty was going to be, to act, as the perfect king. And, the perfect king was going to explain to the citizens, as we will hear in the next verses, so I won’t speak too much about them obviously, but how everyone should follow their prescribed duty for Krishna’s pleasure. And that Krishna is to be gained. The Supreme Absolute Truth is the goal of our prescribed duty, of our work, our duties, our work are not meant for my pleasure, they are meant for Krishna’s pleasure. The fruit is meant for Krishna’s pleasure and the work itself is meant to be performed in such a way that Krishna is pleased. This is bhakti.

TEXT 26

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati

TEXT 27

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

COMMENT

That it is all meant for Krishna, and the envy of a conditioned soul, the false ego, makes him think that everything I do is meant for me. And, this brings no happiness to either the conditioned soul or to Krishna.

And, bhakti means, so the process of bhakti means, the purpose of it as described by Srila Jiva Gosvami in his Bhakti-sandarbha, this is to go from turning our back on Krishna, bahiya-mukh, from our envy with Krishna, enviousness in our relationship to face Him. To face our relationship with Krishna, means to place Krishna in the center, that which the vrajavāsīs do, the residents of Vrindavan do, completely spontaneously and naturally think about Krishna, act for Krishna’s pleasure, love Krishna. We are meant to turn towards that realization very much by the process that Pṛthu Maharaja will explain in the succeeding verses.

So the first part of the purport is mentioning that envious people will be present. They are always present when a great person is there, and they were criticizing and even Prabhupada faced this in his work. And, what Prabhupada is saying here is that as Pṛthu Maharaja didn’t care, he spoke the truth, Srila Prabhupada was really like that.

Now, there is another part of the purport, and the point that is made. But I wanted to ask you at this point if you would like to make any comments. [Unintelligible 0:26:24] So, theoretically, it’s supposed to end at nine. But, I’ve been given a special dispensation that we can go past that. And, also because there is an eclipse coming, therefore, kṛṣṇa-kathā is very important to speak.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. It’s a great honor and privilege to be sitting here in the presence of Srila Prabhupada and the Deities, and the presence of all of you. And, on this occasion, especially, next to my dear godbrother Bhurijana Prabhu. He knew that I was feeling too much separation from him, so he very kindly invited me to sit very close to him.

Bhurijana Prabhu: I won’t push you off the other side.

Giriraj Swami: As Bhurijana Prabhu read the last verse, previous verse and brief purport, I could not help but think of Srila Prabhupada, how his speech resembled that of Pṛthu Maharaja. Pṛthu Maharaja is śakty-āveśa-avatāra of Krishna, and Srila Prabhupada also was empowered by Krishna, to present Krishna consciousness as described here. It’s with speech that was very beautiful, full of metaphorical language, clearly understandable and very pleasing to hear.

When Srila Prabhupada was traveling by cargo ship to America from India. . . Well, from before the journey, and on the journey, and upon arrival, he was praying to Krishna to make his words suitable for the understanding of his audience. And, his audience, when he arrived in America, was very different from his audience in India, or general audiences in India, because the audience there had no background in Vedic knowledge or culture. And, by and large, they were very much covered by the modes of passion and ignorance. So, he prayed very sincerely and earnestly to Krishna, to make his words suitable for the understanding of his audience.

And, it is quite clear that Krishna did empower Srila Prabhupada to speak. And He also, from within the hearts of the audience, gave them, at least the more sincere ones or the more fortunate ones, gave them the intelligence to appreciate Srila Prabhupada’s message, which ultimately is Krishna’s message. And Srila Prabhupada was very clear, there was no ambiguity in his message. He was very clear. He would say Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; our duty is to surrender to Him, and basically anything else was nonsense,

Bhurijana Prabhu: And, everyone else was rascal.

Giriraj Swami: So, this is being clear and unambiguous. There was one time when I was preaching in Madras, and I was just preaching the way I had heard Srila Prabhupada preach, but somehow there was an undercurrent of protest about the way I was preaching. Even friends were advising me, “Don’t speak negatively about others, don’t criticize others, just say positively what you want to say about Krishna and your activities.” And, I became somewhat confused, because so many people were saying the same thing; I thought maybe Krishna’s trying to tell me something. But then, eventually, something happened on a particular day.

I went back to the place where I was staying, and there was a letter from Srila Prabhupada in which he said, “I am the only one in India who is openly criticizing not only impersonalism and demigod worship,” which were very prominent in Madras, “but anything that falls short of complete surrender to Krishna. We must declare it boldly that Krishna is the Supreme Godhead, and all others are His part and parcel servants, and if they do not surrender to Krishna as the Supreme Godhead, all of their hopes for peace and happiness will be frustrated.” He said, “My Guru Maharaja never compromised in his preaching, and I shall never compromise in my preaching, and similarly none of my disciples should ever compromise in their preaching.”

So, this is our line, and. . . But, at the same time, Pṛthu Maharaja’s speech was very beautiful, full of metaphorical language and very pleasing to hear. [Bell rings] Confirmed, nine times. So, just as Srila Prabhupada was able to make his message suitable to the understanding of his audience, because of his realization. . . If you don’t have realization, you can’t re-formulate the presentation of the concept. Because you don’t have realization, you are bound more or less to repeat parrot-like. So, we must have realization, that’s part of our duty as preachers, to have realization. And then, we can adjust the presentation to suit the understanding or level of appreciation of the audience.

And, that can also sometimes be controversial. Once, perhaps the most successful book distributor during Srila Prabhupada’s personal presence was presenting books to people and telling them that these books tell you how to live in harmony with nature, how to realize your full potential as a human being, and how to live a happy life.

Now, some other disciples thought that the book distributor was compromising Srila Prabhupada’s message, and there was some controversy, and in the end, one of the devotees decided to ask Srila Prabhupada directly. So, he went to Srila Prabhupada and told him, basically, what I just said. And, Srila Prabhupada replied, “He is saying exactly what I say. But, he is saying it sweeter, is it just like when a parrot or suka bites into a fruit, it becomes even sweeter.” So, Srila Prabhupada was happy when his disciples presented the message in a suitable way for the audience, and I might add that he was very happy when his books were distributed, because he knew that along with the introduction that the book distributor gave in describing the books, the audience would actually get the book, and then the whole Absolute Truth along with it. So, I think maybe I will stop here and return the book to you.

Bhurijana Prabhu: I’m not sure I’m going to take it. I mean, not that I want to get in the way of your book distribution.

Devotee: Okay, I’ll take it.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you.

Bhurijana Prabhu: Thank you, that was really nice, so balanced. I’ll just read the last part of the purport again and make a point about it. Pṛthu, he did not care for the envious, and then it would be interesting to speak as we act interestingly enough as we did it, two days ago about how to remove envy from the heart. Continuing the purport. . .

PURPORT (continued)

He did not, however, present himself as a royal authority empowered to command everyone.

COMMENT

 He didn’t just tell them you must do this, you must do this, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura said because there are there were devotees, there were devotees present, so he decided to present his conclusions to them, to them, for their consideration. And of course, because their his conclusions were devotional, they would think it is wonderful. But, he presented, now, why did he present it to them?

PURPORT (continued)

He wanted to present his statement in humble submission before the assembly of great sages and saintly persons. As a great king of the entire world, he could have given them orders, but he was so humble, meek and honest that he presented his statement for approval in order to clarify his mature decision.

COMMENT

And that, what I just read, saying his qualities: he was humble, meek, and honest. That word, honest, stands out so strongly, and he was the king, he was a king, and yet he was humble, and meek, and honest. And, his honesty led him to speak about everything being meant for Krishna’s service. So, the qualities of humility, meekness, gentleness, and honesty, they all naturally go together; just like the quality of envy and pride go together, because if you are very, very proud, you think, I’m the one who should be enjoying, not anyone else, and that makes you envious. So, envy and pride go together like a horse and Tunga.

And similarly, humility and meekness, which is gentility and honesty go together. What is the connection between honesty and humility? Well that’s obvious. If I’m honest and not bluffing, I understand that I’m a very, very, very fallen soul, full of defects, make so many mistakes. And, actually understanding that and acting on that platform brings out his humility, and then, if one is honest even though he thinks that, I should be the Lord of all that, and everyone should just listen to me, an honest person will understand that, that he only ends up serving everyone. He wants to be master, but he ends up serving everyone. It’s unavoidable, that we are servants, constitutionally, jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa.

Unavoidably, so honesty brings humility, brings us becoming a servant, and I really would love to ruin the next Bhāgavatam speaker’s classes by saying what one of the whole things that preaching right is going to honestly and humbly say, but I won’t. I’ll resist temptation and instead continue. He could have given them orders but, he was the king, and if you don’t follow the orders of the king, who knows what happened, we know what happened. He could have, but he didn’t. He presented his statements for approval in order to clarify his mature decision, to confirm what he was, already had concluded, he wanted to confirm that; this is also honesty, and this is also humility, and this is also meekness.

Sanatana Gosvami asked Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, “Who am I? And also, why did the threefold miseries disturb me? Why am I always disturbed despite all my efforts to be happy and to be free from misery? Why is it that I suffer so much?” And, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “You don’t actually suffer from the threefold miseries, because you are fixed in your identity as Krishna’s servant, but you are speaking in this way to set an example for others, and it’s also,” he said, “the nature of a sadhu to confirm, to get confirmation of his own thoughts and decisions. It is the very nature of a sadhu to bring his decisions, even if they are mature decisions, into the presence of the Vaishnavas, trusted Vaishnavas.” To say, this is my understanding, this is what I should do, I am correct. Because the conditioned soul always wishes to be independent, and the nature of a Vaishnava is that he always wants to place himself under authority. Very different mood.

So to place, so to clarify his mature decision, Pṛthu Maharaja, going to speak to the assembly of devotees. Now, why does he want to do that? Prabhupada will explain in the final part of his purport again.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone within this material world is conditioned by the modes of material nature and therefore has four defects.

COMMENT

We all know these facts, and we use the word, we are conditioned souls. But what does it mean to be a conditioned soul? It means to be a soul, a person, who is controlled by forces that he is unaware of, the three modes of material nature. We think that I’m choosing to do this, and I’m choosing to do that, but actually, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham that thinking I am the doer, it’s my illusion, and not understanding that the three modes of material nature are actually pushing us and pulling us imperfectly, or perfectly away from Krishna. And, that is our imperfection, so a conditioned soul must be imperfect.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone within this material world is conditioned by the modes of material nature and therefore has four defects. But although Pṛthu Mahārāja was above all these.

COMMENT

He wasn’t a conditioned soul. The shakti of Krishna had entered into him, so he could rule the world.

PURPORT (continued)

Still, like an ordinary conditioned soul, he presented his statements to the great souls, sages and saintly persons present there.

COMMENT

to set a good example, yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ—to set an example, to teach us how we should act, how we should place ourselves, how I should place myself, under authority. Pṛthu Maharaja set that perfect example. But, he wasn’t thinking, he wasn’t thinking that, Oh, I am doing this just to set an example for others. He was sincerely thinking himself of needing to do this, because he was humble, because he was meek, and because he was honest.

And, those are two of many points that I got from the purport – envy and this one.

Giriraj Swami: As Bhurijana Prabhu read the purport, I thought of Maharaja Parīkṣit. When he came to the banks of the Ganges, and so many great sages and saintly persons assembled, he also presented his decision to them for their confirmation; and in one purport, Srila Prabhupada writes: “Any matter, however important, must be confirmed by some authority. That will make the matter perfect.” And, that is something that we must apply in our own lives, so that we are in fact being conducted by higher authority, for the sake of guru and Krishna’s pleasure, and not by our own minds, under the influence of the modes of nature.

When Sri Chaitanya, well, Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual master instructed Him, “You are not fit to read Vedanta, You should just chant Hare Krishna.” And, Lord Chaitanya took the instruction to heart, and was constantly chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and in time, He found that He was trembling, His hairs were standing on, and He was laughing like a mad man, rolling on the ground, dancing without caring for others, and He actually thought that He was becoming mad. He thought that He was becoming mad. And so, He approached His spiritual master and presented His symptoms to His spiritual master, and His spiritual master told Him, “My son, these are symptoms of ecstatic love of God, and I am very pleased.”

Srila Prabhupada explains that these symptoms are possible only on the liberated platform. No one can exhibit such symptoms of ecstasy otherwise. But, even on the liberated platform, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu set the example and went to His spiritual master for instruction and confirmation. And, this is an indication to us that at every stage, certainly without question in the stage of bondage, but even in the liberated stage, we are the eternal servant of our spiritual master and superior authorities in Krishna consciousness, and we can never act independent of them. I mean, we have our free will, we can act independent of them—that is our choice, but that will be calamitous, calamitous.

In one discussion in Juhu, one disciple asked Srila Prabhupada about how someone, who is perfect, acts. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “One who is perfect, never thinks that he is perfect. If someone thinks that he has become perfect, he is a. . .”

Bhurijana Prabhu: “Rascal.” He pointed to me.

Giriraj Swami: No, because I knew you knew the answer.

Bhurijana Prabhu: Because I live my answer. I don’t just know them, I live by them.

Giriraj Swami: You are setting the example how we should feel.

Bhurijana Prabhu: Which in this case is very easy for me to do.

Giriraj Swami: Okay I’m sorry. Yes, Srila Prabhupada said, “Anyone who thinks that he has become perfect, and Oh now I am perfect, I am beyond the guidance of my spiritual master, he is a rascal.” And again, he quoted from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His spiritual master, when the Mayavadi sannyasis questioned Him, “Why you don’t study Vedanta?” He explained why His spiritual master had instructed Him, and He said, “Mūrkha tumi.” guru more mūrkha dekhi’ karila śāsana – that My spiritual master called Me a fool, exactly mūrkha, and chastised Me. Srila Prabhupada said that the disciples should always feel himself to be a fool before his spiritual master, and be ready to be chastised by him. That will make him perfect, and as soon as he thinks, Now I have become perfect, I am beyond any one’s control, he is fallen, he is a rascal.

So, we must always maintain that humble, honest, and meek mood. And, we should be open to seeing others as representatives of our spiritual master. In the case of Lord Chaitanya, His spiritual master was personally present, and thus He could approach him directly. We may not always have the physical presence of the spiritual master to consult, and therefore, we have to learn to appreciate his instructions in other manifestations, through books, through Srila Prabhupada’s books, and through other Vaishnavas.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that, “My spiritual master is present in those who were near and dear to him. If he is not present in those who are near and dear to him, how will I get guidance and shelter in his absence?” So, yes, so we are back to confirming—those who are faithful, and who are our well-wishers, and who are learning; they can guide us and we must take their guidance, want their guidance, and accept their guidance. Hare Krishna.

Bhurijana Prabhu: Because the class was supposed to end at nine, and we were given some dispensation to go past that time, I think we are reaching the end of our dispensatory time. But, there is a problem though, because I mentioned that there is some cures for envy. So, maybe because technically speaking, we have four more minutes, so maybe in four minutes, we can speak a bit about the cure for envy.

I thought of one thing, that Krishna’s lotus feet have many imprints on Them, and one of Them is the chakra. And, by meditating on Krishna’s, the chakra on Krishna’s lotus feet: one’s enemies are destroyed. And, the enemies as described by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura are not this person, and that person, and that person, and that person, and that; they are kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, and mātsarya.

So, I was thinking, so in mātsarya, which is envy, destroyed, why is it particularly mātsarya on these other enemies that are destroyed specifically by the chakra, because we know that the chakra is used against. . . when the Krishna’s enemies fight Him, such as who is an enemy who was killed by the chakra. Famous, most famous one is Sisupala, and so many, Banasura, they were inimical to Krishna, and Krishna just cut off their heads, and Vidyadhara, Krishna just cut off their heads with His chakra, because envy, envy makes us inimical to Krishna, challenging His position. It is [Unintelligible 01:02:08], and there is no humility when there is envy, there is no gentility, there is no honesty when there is envy.

So, let this chakra of Krishna’s lotus foot, let it destroy that which is actually our enemy, and we should recognize our envy and these other qualities are actually working against us. Our enemy works against us, envy works against us. And, it’s also significant that the chakra of Krishna, Krishna’s Sudarsana chakra is also Krishna’s unstoppable time factor kālo ’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt. So, those who are inimical to Krishna will be killed, their heads will be cut off by the time factor of Krishna’s; it’s inevitable, everyone, everyone, who is a conditioned soul, must suffer death by the time factor which is Krishna’s unstoppable shakti, shakti of the Paramātmā.

But, for the devotee, there is no death actually, because he has no enemy. And, as when Narada Muni dropped his gross body because he had been internally, continuously, and only chanting Krishna’s names and glorified regardless of time, place, or circumstances or where he was or who he was with, he was simply, enthusiastically, eagerly relating to Krishna through Krishna’s holy names, but the moment his body dropped, immediately like lightning and illumination occur at the same moment, the lightning bolt comes the pressure comes and light comes immediately, so immediately Narada Muni upon the dropping of his gross body, his siddha-deha spiritual body manifests. So, there is no death there is no pause, there is no hesitation for a devotee because there is no ending.

Giriraj Swami: Confirmed there is no death. It is eternal life. One instruction of Srila Prabhupada’s about envy that has struck me in particular, is the instruction that if you have knowledge and you don’t share it with others, you become envious. Or, in discussing jīva-hiṁsā which is generally translated in a more literal way as violence to other living entities, Srila Prabhupada also translates as envy of other living entities, and he says that the stopping of the preaching of Krishna consciousness is jīva-hiṁsā, envy of other living entities.

And as Bhurijana Prabhu so vividly explained, a Vaishnava is para-dukha-dukhī, he feels sorrow in the sorrow of others, and he wants to alleviate their sorrow mainly by giving them transcendental knowledge, but in any way that he can help them. So, if we have knowledge or any resource that we can share with another person or gift to another person to help them come up, that will free us from envy. And, conversely if we have knowledge or some resource that could help others, but we withhold it from them for no good reason other than sheer meanness or selfishness, that will make us more envious.

One godbrother gave the example that if you are pushing someone up and that person is going up, you are holding his feet, and you are pushing him up and he is going up, his upward momentum will help carry you up. And, if you are grabbing someone’s feet to pull him down, that downward thrust will push you down. So, in whatever way we can, with whatever means we have, we should try to help others relieve them of their suffering and help them to progress, and that will simultaneously relieve us of our suffering and help us progress because that is the beauty of spiritual life. The more you give knowledge to others, the more you get yourself. Even materially, the more you give in charity to a qualified recipient, the more you get in return.

So, it is it is very important for us to stay in the association of devotees because they not only give us good instruction and confirmation, but they are suitable persons for us to serve and to share our knowledge with whatever assets we have with. And, that is important and necessary for us.

Bhurijana Prabhu: Which, I break the rules, which is what Pṛthu Maharaja’s conclusion is going to be that I want to keep the dust of the lotus feet of the devotees upon my head. Okay, why don’t we say something together. What should we say? Okay ready yes, one two three. . .

Giriraj Maharaja and Bhurijana Prabhu and devotees:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!