SB 6.5.23 – The Benefit of Being the Parent of a Devotee

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Six, Chapter Five: “Nārada Muni cursed by Prajāpati Dakṣa,” Text Twenty-Three. Please repeat.

TEXT 23

nāśaṁ niśamya putrāṇāṁ

nāradāc chīla-śālinām

anvatapyata kaḥ śocan

suprajastvaṁ śucāṁ padam

TRANSLATION

The Haryaśvas, the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, were very well-behaved, cultured sons, but unfortunately, because of the instructions of Nārada Muni, they deviated from the order of their father. When Dakṣa heard this news, which was brought to him by Nārada Muni, he began to lament. Although he was the father of such good sons, he had lost them all. Certainly this was lamentable.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The Haryaśvas, the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, were certainly well-behaved, learned and advanced, and in accordance with the order of their father they went to perform austerities to beget good sons for their family. But Nārada Muni took advantage of their good behavior and culture to properly direct them not to be involved with this material world, but to use their culture and knowledge to end their material affairs. The Haryaśvas abided by the order of Nārada Muni, but when news of this was brought to Prajāpati Dakṣa, the prajāpati, instead of being happy with the actions of Nārada Muni, was extremely sorrowful. Similarly, we are trying to bring as many young men as possible to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement for their ultimate benefit, but the parents of the young men joining this movement, being very sorry, are lamenting and making counterpropaganda. Of course, Prajāpati Dakṣa did not make propaganda against Nārada Muni, but later, as we shall see, Dakṣa cursed Nārada Muni for his benevolent activities. This is the way of materialistic life.

COMMENT

This is very important.

PURPORT (continued)

They are not unhappy when their children become spoiled, useless citizens, but they lament when they join the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to achieve the ultimate goal of life. This animosity between parents and the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has existed since time immemorial. Even Nārada Muni was condemned, not to speak of others. Nevertheless, Nārada Muni never gives up his mission. To deliver as many fallen souls as possible, he continues playing his musical instrument and vibrating the transcendental sound Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada’s books are extraordinary because Srila Prabhupada presents the Vedic knowledge as it is. The Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of the Vedas, and he presented the Bhagavad-gītā as it is. And similarly, he presents all the Vedic literature as it is, which comes to the conclusion, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, that one should always think of Krishna, become His devotee, offer worship to Him, and bow down to Him, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, give up all other duties and just surrender to Krishna.

And along with presenting the message as it is, Srila Prabhupada includes his own realizations and examples from his own experience. And one such example that he did not mention explicitly in the purport, but which he covered with the statement about the parents, ‘They are not unhappy when their children become spoiled, useless citizens, but they lament when they join the Krishna consciousness movement to achieve the ultimate goal of life.’

When Srila Prabhupada came to Calcutta in 1971, the Naxalite movement was very prominent there. The Naxalites were a communist youth. They were actually terrorists. Today, we would call them terrorists. They would set fire to buildings, they would kidnap rich people’s sons and demand huge ransom, and they would even just shoot people dead on their feet.

One day, the devotees and Srila Prabhupada were staying in North Calcutta, that was before we rented the place at 3 Albert Road, and they heard shots. And just two blocks away, some Naxalites had gunned down a wealthy man just to create terror and protest against capitalism.

So, a little while later, after we rented the premises at 3 Albert Road, a Naxalite young man joined. He was actually tall, handsome, and talented, and it was a big sensation that a Naxalite had joined the temple and become a devotee. And within days, his mother found out where he was, and she came to Srila Prabhupada, and she was literally weeping tears that her son had become a devotee of Krishna. And after she left, Srila Prabhupada was so disgusted. He said, “If her son is a Naxalite, engaged in all sorts of mischievous activities, that’s alright. But if he becomes a Hare Krishna devotee, that’s the worst thing that could happen.”

That’s the mentality, I don’t know if it’s still the case, but that’s the general mentality of parents, that they want their children to be materialists. They are materialists, they want their children to be materialists. And if their child becomes a spiritualist, they think it’s worse than death. Well, I mean to my parents. There was a young lady in the neighborhood where I grew up near my parent’s home, and my parents did their utmost to keep her away from me because they thought that if I got involved with her, it would distract me from my studies. But when I became a devotee, I found this out later, they met her and asked her, “Is there anything you can do to get him out of that?” [laughter]

So, yeah, anything but Krishna. That’s the general mentality of materialistic people, anything but Krishna. During the Hippie movement in the 1960s, when Srila Prabhupada began to preach, they had love-ins and be-ins, different types of gatherings. The young people would come together and voice their protest against the materialistic society. And Srila Prabhupada actually appreciated that in the hippies. He said, “They know what’s wrong, but unfortunately, they don’t know what’s right.” They rejected the stereotyped materialistic way of life, which was good, but unfortunately, they had no information of the beautiful life in Krishna consciousness. But then, Srila Prabhupada gave them that information, and they changed. But there was some confusion. I mean, just hippies and different guys. And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, they’re not hippies. They are happies. They’re becoming happy by serving Lord Krishna.”

So, at one of these be-ins, gatherings in the park, the hippies brought a pig, and they were worshiping the pig. I mean, there was some hidden meaning or symbolism, because the police were always trying to subdue the hippies, the protestors, and the police were called pigs. But anyway, Prabhupada commented. When he heard that they were worshiping the pig, he said, “They’ll worship anything else besides Krishna, everything but Krishna. Krishna will be the last.”

So, anyway, I joined, and eventually, on Srila Prabhupada’s request, came to India and arrived in Bombay. And then, after the first Bombay pandal, Srila Prabhupada sent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me to Calcutta to organize the first pandal there. And then, after that, the first pandal in Delhi, at the LIC grounds. So, while I was in Calcutta, my parents came to try to get me back. And when they entered the Calcutta temple, Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his darshan room. He just had one room, very simple. And he had his low cushion as usual, his low table. And then, on the other wall in that same room, there was a bed.

So, when my parents came in, Srila Prabhupada spoke to them in a very intelligent way. In fact, it was so subtle that unless you thought about it, you couldn’t really understand how Srila Prabhupada was preaching. It sounded like he was just telling stories of his own life. So, he said that in his astrological chart, it was predicted that he would become the richest man in India. Now, my father, I mean, he was a very good man, but he was materialistic, most people are. So, this would have definitely caught his attention. And then, Srila Prabhupada told about his successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, and how eventually, he had a chemist shop in Allahabad, how he had a pharmacy in Allahabad, and one of his customers was Motilal Nehru, who is the father of Jawaharlal Nehru. And he said that Motilal Nehru was a made in England man. He said, “If he had a medicine made in India, and the exact same medicine with the label ‘Made in England,’ which was selling at twenty times the cost of the same medicine, Motilal Nehru would take the one that said ‘Made in England’ and pay twenty times the price.”

So, again, Srila Prabhupada was, in a very subtle way, attacking my father’s general Western prejudice, that the West is better than India. Then, he said that Motilal Nehru had a son named Jawaharlal Nehru. He had several sons, and among the sons, one was completely useless, and he was named Jawaharlal. [laughter] And Srila Prabhupada said that he was such a botheration for the family, that the father, Motilal Nehru, gave him to the freedom movement. [laughter] Prabhupada didn’t have to say it, but everyone knows he became the first Prime Minister of India. [laughter]

So, this was again in a very subtle and tactful way attacking an illusion that many people have, that a big person is someone that we. . . Well, it’s sort of natural, the idea to try to, yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas, that whatever great men do, others follow; it’s natural. But Prabhupada was making the point that it doesn’t make sense to follow a useless person, even if he’s in a big position. And Prabhupada often quoted that verse from the Second Canto, śva-vid-varāhoṣṭra, that people who are like dogs, hogs, camels, and asses glorify others who do not attend to the glories of the Lord. In other words, most of the big leaders in the world, they do not chant and hear the glories of the Lord. They have no idea who the Lord is, as a matter of fact. But they are praised by people. But what is the value of that praise? It’s like a big animal being praised by little animals. That’s all, it has no significance.

So, this is a very important point. A lot of Srila Prabhupada’s preaching involved cutting people’s false attachments to put political leaders to scientists, to philanthropists. Because unless you give up false attachments, it’s very hard to transfer your attachment to Krishna, which is the ultimate goal. So, he was talking like that with my father, and my father was very fascinated, but he didn’t forget why he came. He was a lawyer, so, I mean, he could appreciate a good discussion, but he didn’t forget why he came. So then, he was also tactful, he was a very intelligent person. He didn’t say, “I want my son back.” He said, “I want to establish the trust for my son and put one million dollars in it.” And then, that one million dollars was worth. . . I mean, it’s still a lot, but it was worth much more than maybe ten million dollars now. And he said, “And I want my son to come home to Chicago to sign the papers.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, you can send the papers and he will sign.” [laughter]

Also, I didn’t know at the time, but later, when I visited my parent’s home, I found that my father had a copy of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and he had underlined it and made notes. And he made special note of those portions where Srila Prabhupada said that you could practice Krishna consciousness at home. [laughter] So, he brought this up to Srila Prabhupada, my eternal father, and he said, “Well, I read in your books that people can be Krishna consciousness at home. So, why can’t Glenn just be Krishna conscious at home?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes that’s true. But there’s the question of association. One needs the association of like–minded persons to make progress on the path.”

So, things were not going the way they hoped. And my affectionate mother, she was very concerned about my health. And in those days, I mean, the world has changed. In those days, people had the idea, especially in America and Europe, that if you don’t eat meat, you won’t get enough protein in your diet. People really believed that. So, my mother started to cry, and [Unintelligible 00:30:37] at the time, she was concerned. And Srila Prabhupada generally would keep a container of sweets on his table. And Prabhupada’s sister, Pishima, was also in the room. So, he had her give sandeśa to my father and mother, and my sister was also there, and try to make her feel better. If she ate the sandeśa, she might get some spiritual inspiration. And he said, “These sweets; rasagullā and sandeśa, are made up of cheese, and they are full of protein.” [laughter] And then he turned to me and he said, “You must eat two dozen rasagullās and sandeśa every day.” [laughter] [applause]

So, he was trying to alleviate their anxieties, but still, they were persisting. And then, Srila Prabhupada said, “Well, if you want him to come back, you can ask him.” And so, they asked, and I said, “Well, no. I want to stay with Srila Prabhupada.” But then, Srila Prabhupada proposed a compromise. So, it was October. So, he said, “Let him stay with me until April. And when I come to America in April, he could come with me.”

Then, I said, “Just see how intelligent Srila Prabhupada is. When it’s pleasant in India, between October and April, he’s in India. But then, when it gets too hot and it’s pleasant in the West, he goes to America. And when it gets too cold in the West, he comes back to India when it’s pleasant in India.” And somehow, by then, my father was becoming influenced by Srila Prabhupada’s charm and intelligence and Krishna consciousness. And he said, “Actually, he is very intelligent.” And Srila Prabhupada said, sort of to deflect, “Actually, your son is intelligent because he has understood my motive.” In other words, he was joking that I understood the reason why he travels is to stay where the weather is good. But my father said to Prabhupada, “Actually, you are very intelligent.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Well, I must be intelligent. Otherwise, how could I attract so many intelligent young men like your son?” [laughter] So, it sort of ended like that, and as we were leaving the room, my father said something to me about Srila Prabhupada. And in my father’s value system, these were the highest compliments that he could pay anyone. He said, “I can say two things about your master. One, he’s a brilliant organizer. And two, he really knows how to deal with people.” [laughter] [applause]

Well, I never went back after six months. But as I mentioned, from Calcutta we went to Delhi. There was a wonderful pandal program at the LIC grounds. And then from Delhi, Srila Prabhupada went to Vrindavan, but I didn’t go with him because Srila Prabhupada had received an invitation to go to Madras, but he didn’t want to go personally but the invitation came from Dr. Bali, who was the husband of Vaijanti Mala, a good Bharatnatyam dancer and film artist, and they were helping us in Bombay. So, he wanted someone to go in his place, and I volunteered.

And in Madras, I ate very well. A lot of idlis, dosas, upma. Because our temples were really poor, I mean, in those days in ISKCON. So, we were eating boiled rice, boiled dal, some vegetables, and maybe dry chapattis. There was one devotee in Calcutta. He had a pretty strong body, but his body was so famished, he was so undernourished, that after the ārati, when the ghee lamps had burned out, he would squeeze them just to get a drop of ghee. It was really austere. But in Madras, there was no temple, we were just staying at different people’s homes. And then, we arranged a program for Prabhupada, and he came and he saw how I put on weight, he said, “Take a picture and send it to your mother.” [laughter] He was always mindful, he was very compassionate. But he didn't deviate from his mission. He wanted to spread Krishna consciousness, and he wanted young men to come forward and help him.

And once, he explained the same philosophy in a little different way. There were two people, this was just after we got the Juhu land finally, and Prabhupada was staying in a chātāi house of a big industrialist in Bombay, the [Unintelligible 00:39:13]. And so, I was in the room with another devotee named Mahamsa, who also came from a very good family. He was Parsi, actually, and they were quite a respectable, well-to-do family in Bombay. And he quoted a verse from the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt, that no one should become a guru, no one should become a father, no one should become a mother, no one should become a husband, and no one should accept a superior position unless he or she can deliver his or her dependent from the repetition of birth and death. And then, he quoted Srila Sridhar Swami’s commentary on that verse, gurur na sa syāt.

And then, he gave the example of Bali Maharaja, that his guru, Sukracharya, had instructed him not to surrender everything to Vishnu, not to fulfill his promise to Vishnu, but Bali Maharaja disobeyed him. But was it an offense for Bali Maharaja to disobey his spiritual master? No, because he was not a real spiritual master, he was not delivering his dependent from the cycle of birth and death, he wasn’t instructing him properly. And then, Sridhar Swami says, “It’s the duty of the son to defend the father when the father is attacked.” But when Nṛsiṁha Bhagavān attacked Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada did not try to defend his father, but to the contrary, he offered prayers of praise to Nṛsiṁhadeva. But was that an offense? No, because Hiranyakasipu was not a real father.

And then, he went, “It’s the duty of the son to obey the mother.” But when Kaikeya ordered his son Bharat to occupy the throne, he refused to sit on the throne. But was that an offense? No, because she was not a real mother. And similarly, when the yajñic brahmans, this was in Vrindavan, when Krishna and Balarama sent the cowherd boys to beg from the yajñic brahmans, they refused. And then, Krishna said, “Okay, you can approach their wives.” And the husbands forbade their wives, but they disobeyed their husbands and went to Krishna and Balarama and offered what they had. So, was that an offense? No, because they were not real husbands.

So, the same principle operates here. Dakṣa had instructed his sons to perform austerities for the sake of creating progeny, which involves becoming very entangled with material life. And Narada thought, They have such good qualities; they are gentle, they’re well-behaved, they’re learned, they’re cultured. That should be used not to procreate, which is going on in any case, in every species of life, but that should be used in the service of the Lord. And it was not an offense for them to disobey their father because, you could say, he wasn’t acting as a real father because he wasn’t guiding them how to be liberated from the cycle of birth and death, but rather to become more entangled. But Dakṣa was unhappy, as we’ve been discussing.

Parents are often unhappy when their children become devotees. We have many young men here. I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but just to get a sense of whether it’s still like that, you just quickly raise your hands and bring them down so no one has time to see whose parents are like that, because we don’t want it to. . . But just to give a sense.

I’ll ask two questions. The first is how many parents supported your joining Krishna consciousness? And how many discourage it? So, just very quickly. How many supported? Okay. And how many discouraged it? Okay. Been going on since time immemorial. [laughter] Your parents are in good company with Dakṣa. [laughter]

But now, I come to a very important point, which Srila Prabhupada added to what he told Mahamsa and me. And that is that by your becoming devotees, your whole family will benefit. If you become pure devotees, your parents for seven generations will be liberated. And then, he said, “So, by serving in the Krishna consciousness movement, you’re actually doing the best service to your parents.” And I saw that in the case of my parents. They never became devotees. They did service, they were never really favorable. But at the end, I would say they both had very auspicious departures, very auspicious.

And afterwards, one devotee wrote me a quote from Srila Prabhupada that was so appropriate. I mean, it made such an impression on me, it was so true, and it made such an impression on me, that on the spot, I memorized it. Srila Prabhupada said, “The parents of my disciples will realize their good fortune at the time of their passing away.” [applause] And I won’t go into too many details, but my father, it was auspicious. At the very end, his eyes opened and a smile appeared on his face, and he left with a smile on his face. And the whole room was sort of surcharged with a blissful atmosphere, it was very unexpected, no one expected it. I was there, my sister was there, my two cousins were there, their wives were there, and no one moved. It was a very stunning experience with that blissful atmosphere. And my sister said, “What do you think he saw?” Because everyone could see his eyes open and a smile. And she is not a person who even really has a clear idea of the soul, of the difference between the body and the soul. So, it was very striking.

And then, I guess two days later, there was the funeral. The way they do it is there’s a memorial service in the Jewish temple, in my father’s case, and then, after that, they take the body to the cemetery and bury it. So, my father was a judge, quite a prominent person. So, many people came, I mean, hundreds of people. And a rabbi gave a talk, he was a [Unintelligible 00:50:48] chief. And I had written a letter to my father after he left, so the rabbi read that. And after that ceremony, no one got up from their seats, no one left.

And that evening, back at my father’s house, different friends and relatives were coming, and there was one couple. They were lawyers from the same class as my father, and they said they had never experienced a memorial program like that, where at the end, no one got up. No one wanted to leave, they just remained in their seats. And there was a very special atmosphere. And I can only attribute it to the spiritual position that my father attained, really, by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. He did service, not really for Krishna but for me, he did service. But I think mainly, it was what Prabhupada said, “If a member of the family becomes a devotee, the whole family benefits.”

So, many devotees are like the description of the Haryashvas; they’re gentle, they’re well-behaved, they’re cultured. I see it even when parents of devotees become sick, it often ends up that it’s the devotee that takes care of the sick, aged parents. Even though they have other brothers and sisters, but they’re too selfish. And it increases. I mean, I definitely became much better behaved after I met Srila Prabhupada. So, the parents benefit a lot.

And then, Prabhupada concluded this little talk to me and Mahamsa by saying, “You’re doing the best thing for your parents and family members. So, don’t leave.” And it’s true. So, I congratulate all of you for coming forward and heeding the call of Narada Muni, coming through paramparā, through Srila Prabhupada, through Srila Prabhupada and Narada Muni’s servants, and helping this Krishna consciousness movement and continuing the effort.

I was thinking of the Haryashvas and Prajapati. He had so many sons. But what did he want from the sons? Just to create more sons. Because if you already had sons, what would you want them to do? Create more sons. Well, that’s sort of natural in the material realm, and the same principle operates in the spiritual realm, “Okay. We have so many devotees. So, what do we want the devotees to do? Make more devotees.” [laughter] It’s the same principle, except that that type of procreation leads to material entanglement and bondage and suffering, whereas the increase of the spiritual family means more souls are being liberated from the material bondage, and returning to our original home with our original family in Goloka, Vrindavan. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna. Haribol! [applause]

Giriraj Swami: Any questions or comments?

Devotee: Hare Krishna. I want to thank you. That was very, very inspiring. Thank you very much. Haribol! [applause]

I had a similar experience. My mother wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada, because as you mentioned, in those days, the parents were very concerned that their vegetarian sons and daughters were going to starve to death because of severe malnutrition. It was definitely a concern in that generation. So, my mother also wrote to Srila Prabhupada about it, “What about my sons?” Because, as you know, my brother also was a devotee, Nara Narayana dasa. “What about my sons’ health? I don’t think they have become healthy. I don’t think they’ll eat proper healthy nutrition in this vegetarian diet.” Prabhupada wrote back a very wonderful letter to my mother. He said, “You take care of their bodies, and I’ll take care of their souls.” [laughter] [applause]

Giriraj Swami: “What should be the attitude and activities towards parents for a devotee who wants to serve a lifetime?” I think the best advice is to be nice to them. It’s very hard for most parents to accept instruction from their children, because they think their children are their children, they should be listening to the parents, not that the parents should be listening to the children. So, it may not be very congenial to preach to them, but by showing them that you’re happy, that you’re gentle, you’re well-behaved, you’re respectful, and cultured, they’ll see, “Oh! My son has improved by this association, by this philosophy, by this practice.” And so, they will respect it more. And if you can engage them; taking prasāda, visiting the temple, visiting the holy places, Vrindavan, and maybe meeting other devotees, they can become more favorable. So, just by appreciating, they make advancement, it’s in the Bhāgavatam. So, if they just appreciate you and how you’ve improved, they will make advancement.

It was very interesting. After serving in India for three years, I actually became quite sick with jaundice. Well, I recovered from the jaundice, but then I had a relapse. It was harder to recover from the relapse than the original case. So, in the end, Prabhupada said, “As long as Giriraj stays in Bombay, he won’t be able to recover.’ So, I went to Los Angeles. It was very interesting. I didn’t make the connection before, but Tamal Krishna Goswami was the GBC in India then, and a devotee named Kurandar, he was in charge of Los Angeles. And so, I guess, Prabhupada knew that Tamal Krishna Goswami would be happy that I was going, and Prabhupada said to him, “In Los Angeles, Kurandar will supply him sandeśa and rasagullā, which you could not do.” [laughter]

So, anyway, in Los Angeles, I recovered, and then I went back to Bombay. But while I was there, Hridayananda Maharaja’s mother came to meet Srila Prabhupada, and it was very interesting how Srila Prabhupada spoke to her. First, he said, “Your son is very intelligent.” And she said, “Yes, Howard always was a good student.” But then, he told the story of Kapiladeva and Devahuti, how Devahuti had a son who was a great sage, and her son instructed her in spiritual knowledge. And because of the good instructions that she received from her son, she became liberated. So, he said, “Your son, he’s your son. That’s all right. But if he has knowledge that can be helpful to you, you should be prepared to take it, just like Devahuti took instruction from her son.”

So, we can try, but it’s not guaranteed that the parents will listen. I would say mainly, just be nice to them, be gentle, well-behaved, and respectful, and engage them. And just speak to them to whatever extent they’re willing to hear, but don’t force too much. It’s an offense to preach to the faithless. We have to be very careful about it.

“What is the duty of grihastha devotees?”

Well, in one sense, the duty of every devotee is the same, brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha, or sannyasa, which is to serve Krishna. As I mentioned last night, Lord Chaitanya instructed Sanatana Gosvami, name ruci, one should have taste for the holy name, jive doya, one should show mercy to the fallen souls, and Vaishnava-seva, one should serve the devotees. So, that’s for everyone, and grihasthas in particular. A husband should deliver his wife and children. The wife should serve her husband and deliver their children. And give in charity, it’s a part of grihastha-dharma, give in charity in a Krishna conscious way. There is so much to the scriptures.

So, I received a gentle reminder that it is nine. Well, it was 9:44, now it’s 9:46, and I have to catch a flight. I came here for many reasons, but one reason was to serve HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, who really has done wonders in Delhi and other places all over, but I’m seeing in particular in Delhi, he’s done wonders. I did visit Punjabi Bagh many years ago when it was just a construction office. Saurab was in charge. It was literally just a construction office, and they had a small temple, basically for the devotees and the construction team. And then, they began by having a little Sunday program, and now it’s developed into this beautiful temple. And of course, what to speak of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarthi mandir. And I hear there are many temples coming up all over Delhi, and so many young men joining, congregation is standing, books being distributed, huge numbers, it’s really amazing and inspiring. So, I wanted to serve him, but he’s also calling me to Bombay because today is Ratha-yatra. So, I have to serve him there as well. And my flight is, as it is, I won’t be there from the beginning, but I want to be there for some of it.

So, I think we have twelve minutes, so I’ll stay on. Well, as promised, I guess I have to sign books, if anyone takes books, and if there are any little exchanges, we can do that in the next few minutes. Thank you all very much. Hare Krishna. [applause]