SB 3.25.21 – The Saga of the Opening of the Juhu Temple

sGiriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Twenty-five – “The Glories of Devotional Service.” Text Twenty-one. Now in the previous verse, Lord Kapila deva speaks about the benefit of becoming attached to a pure devotee.

TEXT 20

prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam

ātmanaḥ kavayo viduḥ

sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto

mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam

TRANSLATION

Every learned man knows very well that attachment for the material is the greatest entanglement of the spirit soul. But that same attachment, when applied to the self-realized devotees, opens the door of liberation.

COMMENT

So the next question that arises is how do we recognize such a devotee or sadhu? And that question is answered in the verse that we shall discuss today. And these qualities were vividly exemplified by Srila Prabhupada in the struggle at Hare Krishna land.

TEXT 21

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ

suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām

ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ

sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ

TRANSLATION

The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

A sādhu, as described above, is a devotee of the Lord. His concern therefore is to enlighten people in devotional service to the Lord. That is his mercy. He knows that without devotional service to the Lord, human life is spoiled. A devotee travels all over the country, from door to door, preaching “Be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Be a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Don’t spoil your life in simply fulfilling your animal propensities. Human life is meant for self-realization, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” These are the preachings of a sādhu. He is not satisfied with his own liberation. He always thinks about others. He is the most compassionate personality towards all the fallen souls. Therefore one of his qualifications is kāruṇika, great mercy to the fallen souls. While engaged in preaching work, he has to meet with so many opposing elements, and therefore the sādhu, or devotee of the Lord, has to be very tolerant. Someone may ill-treat him because the conditioned souls are not prepared to receive the transcendental knowledge of devotional service. They do not like it; that is their disease. The sādhu has the thankless task of impressing upon them the importance of devotional service. Sometimes devotees are personally attacked with violence. Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was caned in twenty-two marketplaces, and Lord Caitanya’s principal assistant, Nityānanda, was violently attacked by Jagāi and Mādhāi. But still they were tolerant because their mission was to deliver the fallen souls. One of the qualifications of a sādhu is that he is very tolerant and is merciful to all fallen souls. He is merciful because he is the well-wisher of all living entities

COMMENT

So far Srila Prabhupada has been speaking mainly about kāruṇika—being merciful and titikṣava—being tolerant, in the face of the inevitable difficulties that one faces in the effort to extend mercy to the fallen souls in the course of preaching Krishna consciousness. Now we will just discuss suhṛdaḥ. Srila Prabhupada signed his letters ‘Your Ever Well Wisher.’ So suhṛdaḥ is derived from su which means nice and hrdah which means heart. And it is generally translated as friend, well-wisher, affectionate, benefactor, and so on. So suhṛdaḥ is, but not just suhṛdaḥ, suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, well-wisher of every living entity.

PURPORT (continued)

He is merciful because he is the well-wisher of all living entities. He is not only a well-wisher of human society, but a well-wisher of animal society as well. It is said here, sarva-dehinām, which indicates all living entities who have accepted material bodies. Not only does the human being have a material body, but other living entities, such as cats and dogs, also have material bodies. The devotee of the Lord is merciful to everyone — the cats, dogs, trees, etc. He treats all living entities in such a way that they can ultimately get salvation from this material entanglement. Śivānanda Sena, one of the disciples of Lord Caitanya, gave liberation to a dog by treating the dog transcendentally. There are many instances where a dog got salvation by association with a sādhu, because a sādhu engages in the highest philanthropic activities for the benediction of all living entities. Yet although a sādhu is not inimical towards anyone, the world is so ungrateful that even a sādhu has many enemies.

COMMENT

And as we will discuss, well that was true even of Srila Prabhupada. He had many enemies. He was not the enemy of his enemies. He was always the well-wisher of everyone. But because of some persons’ envious natures they became inimical towards Srila Prabhupada. That was true in many situations and it was very true in Bombay.

PURPORT (continued)

Although a sādhu is not inimical towards anyone, the world is so ungrateful that even a sādhu has many enemies.

What is the difference between an enemy and a friend? It is a difference in behavior. A sādhu behaves with all conditioned souls for their ultimate relief from material entanglement. Therefore no one can be more friendly than a sādhu in relieving a conditioned soul. A sādhu is calm, and he quietly and peacefully follows the principles of scripture.

COMMENT

Here Srila Prabhupada is referring to shanta—peaceful and sādhava—abides by the instructions of the scriptures.

PURPORT (continued)

One who actually follows the principles of scripture must be a devotee of God because all the śāstras instruct us to obey the orders of the Personality of Godhead. Therefore sādhu means a follower of the scriptural injunctions and a devotee of the Lord. All these characteristics are prominent in a devotee. A devotee develops all the good qualities of the demigods, whereas a nondevotee, even though academically qualified, has no actual good qualifications or good characteristics according to the standard of transcendental realization.

COMMENT

So every genuine devotee will manifest these qualities, although according to the circumstances a particular quality may be more visible at a particular time. And certainly Srila Prabhupada manifested all of these qualities. But because we are especially discussing the Thirty-first anniversary of the grand opening of the Juhu temple on Makar Sankranti, January 14, we will discuss the verse specifically in relation to Srila Prabhupada’s struggles in Juhu.

In brief, one very big businessman, a crooked businessman, was met by a devotee. And the businessman mentioned to the devotee, it was actually Tushta Krishna dasa. Tushta Krishna dasa, he is not with us anymore, he was very nice devotee. So Mr. Nair wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada saying that he had a large property in Juhu that would be suitable for a noble cause such as Krishna consciousness. And he would like to offer it to Srila Prabhupada, if Srila Prabhupada was interested. So eventually, Srila Prabhupada entered into an agreement to purchase the land and he paid a deposit on signing the agreement. But Mr. Nair was very cunning and he inserted a condition in the agreement that the sale had to be completed within six months, and time is of the essence. That was in the agreement, “Time is of the essence.” And it was also a part of the history that Mr. Nair had entered an agreement to sell the vacant part of the property to someone else. And in that agreement there was a condition that the purchaser had to get permission from the authorities to subdivide the land so he could buy that particular vacant portion.

Now, Mr. Nair owned one of three English daily newspapers in Bombay, The Free Press Journal. So he was very influential. He had been the sheriff of Bombay and he was a very wealthy and resourceful person. So he, I would venture to say, used his influence to make sure that the earlier purchaser did not get the permission for the land to be subdivided. And so, Mr. Nair cancelled the agreement and kept the money that he had paid. And meanwhile, the other party had gone to court about it. And then with us, the same thing happened. One of the conditions was that we had to obtain the permission of the charity commissioner, and we couldn’t get the permission. It just kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. And again, Mr. Nair cancelled the agreement and held on to the money. So, this is really making a long story short, a very long story, but it seemed that we didn’t have any friends. Mr. Nair was so powerful and influential and he had people with him in this whole conspiracy, you could say. It seemed that we had no hope. And then one day, the Mayor of Bombay gave a talk at a public place in which he mentioned that, although there are some complications with the Juhu land but the Hare Krishna people were very good people and they were actually victims of other mischievous people. So somehow that word came to us and we thought, Wow!

So we went to meet Mayor Ganatra. And it was encouraging to me, that over his door to the Mayor’s office there was a Hindi saying, and I knew enough to read it and understand it: Satyameva Jayate, which means truth will prevail. So we met him and he was very encouraging. And Srila Prabhupada, it was so complicated. So he had to deal with the landlord, Mr. Nair and with the other claimant because he was also saying it is his property or at least the major portion. So Srila Prabhupada asked Mayor Ganatra to come and mediate between us and Mrs. Nair. And at the time we were staying in P.L Sethi’s almost completed house. He hadn’t moved into it. It was finished enough that we could live in it but there was no furniture or anything, but the basics were there.

And Srila Prabhupada was so expert, that is also one of the twenty-six qualities of the devotee, dākṣa. He is so expert, you wouldn’t believe how expert he was. So he was in one room and Mrs. Nair was in another room. And Mayor Ganatra was pretty expert himself. So, because the original agreement was cancelled, somehow we had to get Mrs. Nair, the land was actually in her name, to enter a new agreement. So she wanted more money. And so Mayor Ganatra would come and say, “What about this?” She was demanding so much more. Prabhupada would say, “No, this is too much.” And then he would give his figure. And that the gulf seemed so huge, it also seemed hopeless. And then after going back and forth between the different rooms Mayor Ganatra came and said, “You agree, the two of you agree?” And what I surmised he did was, he gave us a very high figure and told us, “She is not going to come down, you are going to have to go up.” And then he would go to her and give a very low figure coming from Srila Prabhupada and say, “This is as high as he is going to go. You are going to have to come down.” And it was so hard for both. And then at the end we found out, we met somewhere in between. So that was Mrs. Nair.

And then there was Mr. Mehta. His company was, I think as Chaganlal & Sons. So he came to that house and he was another sharp businessman. And there is a conception of a sadhu. And I suppose some sadhus are like that, quite simple. But Srila Prabhupada was not one of them. And so Mr. Mehta, like a really really wisened, shrewd businessman, he comes in and sits down in front of Srila Prabhupada. I think he was trying to take Prabhupada by surprise. I mean, that is so what businessmen do. Even Srinathji dasa in his interview, he said, “As businessman we try to see the weaknesses of the other party and take advantage of it.” So he said to Srila Prabhupada, “So who will take the land?” Srila Prabhupada without skipping a beat said, “I will.” Then Chaganlal said, “My claim is three lakhs.” Prabhupada said, “My claim is eight lakhs,” just totally defeating him step by step. And so in the end there was some negotiation. Prabhupada got him down from his demand and then it was agreed. And I think Chaganlal didn’t really know what happened. It happened so fast and he was so unprepared for it. And it was the etiquette as he was an elderly person and I was Prabhupada’s assistant, so it was the etiquette that I would walk him from the room down the stairs and see him off. And as he was walking out of the room he said, he was shaking his head, “Your guru Maharaja is pukka. Your Guru Maharaja is pukka.” Meaning really expert.

There are many, many plots and subplots and subplots. But at a certain stage it came to the point because the way they do these transactions in India, some percent is paid in white which means accounted money and some percent is paid in black which means unaccounted money. Now there is a whole discussion as to why that is so prominent in India, but we won’t get into that. But it is very much the system, without engaging in that type of dealing you can’t do this type of business in India. So it was a tense situation because Prabhupada had to pay Chaganlal this money for Chaganlal to withdraw his suit. And once the suit was withdrawn that was it, Chaganlal had no claim. So okay, it was written into the agreement that Prabhupada would pay so much. That was the white figure, that was written in the agreement that was safe for him. But what about the other part, the black money? So in this meeting in the lawyer’s office, discussing how to deal with this because if we give him the black money first and he doesn’t withdraw the case then where are we? And if he withdraws the case and we don’t pay him the black money then where is he? And it seemed like an impossible conundrum. There was no solution. And Prabhupada was sitting there. He would usually in such situations sort of be quiet and just let the experts discuss or let the very strongly interested parties discuss; he was just sitting shanta, peacefully. And then very neatly and humbly he says, “But what if I hold the money?” And everyone agreed. Of course, who is going to distrust Srila Prabhupada? So in the courtroom Srila Prabhupada is sitting with this, in America they I guess they use briefcases and in India they use paper bags; he is sitting in the courtroom with this paper bag of money. And when Chaganlal withdrew the case he gave him a paper bag.

So now coming to Rameshwar Prabhu’s very appropriate hissing upon the mention of the demon. There is actually a lesson there too that I learned as part of this saga. So things began civil, that is Indian culture. Even if you go to the home of your enemy he treats you so nicely that you forget he is your enemy. But as time went on Mr. Nair’s demonic qualities started to come out more and more. And there was a very heavy confrontation between Mr. Nair and Srila Prabhupada. At this stage Srila Prabhupada was staying at Karthikeya Mahadevia’s apartment on Warden Road, in downtown Bombay. And Mr. Nair came in and you could see that he was in a very inimical mood, you could just see it from the beginning. He came into Prabhupada’s room. And Prabhupada also could see that there was going to be a confrontation. And I don’t know if Mr. Nair asked for it or whether Prabhupada just understood it, but he sent everyone out of the room. And Prabhupada’s position was always very clear and simple, that “Either give us our money back and we will vacate or we will pay you the balance and you give us the land. You can’t have both the money and the land. If you want to give us the money back, fine. You can have the land or we will pay you the rest and take the land.” So from outside we could hear the shouting inside the room. And eventually Mr. Nair was becoming so angry. Prabhupada was saying, “Ultimately this is Krishna’s property.” And Mr. Nair, he said, “I am going to break your Krishna.” Almost like Hiraṇyakaśipu, “I am going to break your Krishna.” And he stormed out of the room.

So Prabhupada spent a lot of time in Bombay working on this project but he also travelled. And soon thereafter, it was like that hoping for some breakthrough, hoping for some breakthrough. Then at the last minute meeting with Mr. Nair, then Prabhupada left for Australia and we continued our preaching. And then one day, I will never forget this because in India they have vendors of newspapers and magazines. They just sit on the sidewalk and they spread out their publications. So right near Crawford Market Metro Cinema, I am on my way to an appointment with someone and I looked, not even thinking, my eyes fell on the newspaper, The Free Press Journal, Mr. Nair’s newspaper. This huge banner headline, big bold type, ‘A.B NAIR IS DEAD’ and a big picture OF Mr. Nair. And I actually felt jubilant. I actually felt like, I might have even literally danced, but I definitely felt like dancing right there on the sidewalk. But I was thinking, Is this right? We are trying to be saintly persons, is this right?” I wasn’t sure. I mean I felt like that but I wasn’t sure. And then meanwhile I heard that the devotees in Juhu were also very jubilant. And they were, as we heard it, they were distributing sweets which really annoyed Nair’s supporters and family members. So I was the Temple President and I did have my relationship with Srila Prabhupada, especially in Bombay, but I wasn’t one of the top leaders, GBC members. So Bali Mardan, so he phoned. He felt he should give, and yes, definitely he should give Srila Prabhupada the news. So he phoned Australia and Srutakirti Prabhu was Prabhupada’s servant at the time. And Bali Mardan Prabhu gave him the message.

And then later we heard that Srila Prabhupada folded his palms, he was taking his massage. “Thank you, thank you.” And then he said, well I don’t know how confidential this can be, but he said, “I was praying for this because he was giving too much trouble to the devotees.” I focused more on the intrigues related to the land but he would turn off the electricity, he would stop the water supply. And he hired this guy, Ramu. Ramu, the coconut wala because Juhu had a lot of coconut trees, palm trees, so they have these. They are quite skillful, somehow, they just climb up the trunk of the tree and they have this machete and they lop off the coconuts. So he was the coconut wala but what he was really there for was to terrorize the devotees. And so we had our little temple with Radha-Rasabihari and he would just hang around with his machete. He is a muscular guy; he is looking very menacing. And also part of his purpose was to scare people away, so no one would come to the temple programs from outside. So anyway, Srila Prabhupada said, he was giving too much trouble to the devotees. And then Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter to Dr. and Mrs. Singhal, they were also very good devotees, supporters. And he said, “I have received news that Mr. Nair is dead. This is very good news indeed.” And then he quoted this verse from Prahlada Maharaja from the Seventh Canto, that even a saintly person takes pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed. And then I got the answer that whether it was appropriate to feel happy that Nair was dead. And Prabhupada himself gave the answer from Prahlada. Who could be more saintly than Prahlada? Even a snake or a scorpion takes pleasure when. . . I mean, even a saintly person, sadhu, even a saintly person takes pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed.

So there are many twists, reversals to the story. But during one period, Srila Prabhupada, he just really wanted to. . . there were so many levels. One was getting the land, the other was getting the permission to build. And again Mr. Nair’s main accomplice was the local municipal corporators, and he did a lot to influence people against us and make sure we never got any permissions and so on. So Srila Prabhupada ended up staying more than maybe about three months straight. It is a very very long time for Srila Prabhupada to stay in one place. And every day he would speak on the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And later, he had the devotees compile those lectures into a book called the Teachings of Lord Kapila, to Devahuti. And when we got to this verse, titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ, Srila Prabhupada related it in a very heartfelt way to the difficulties we were facing in Juhu. I have gone a bit ahead with the story but at that time we were in the thick of it. So I will read a bit from. . .Ten years ago was the 25th anniversary of the temple opening. And our godbrother, His Holiness Sridhra Swami Maharaja arranged a wonderful celebration for the 25th anniversary and many senior devotees came and spoke. But he was really concerned that, not the big gurus, sannyasis, GBCs should speak, they speak all the time. But that anyone who was there, who participated in any way should get the chance to speak. It was really a wonderful program. And my health didn’t allow me to go in person so I wrote a letter. And I will read a bit from that letter. Okay, so the letter was actually addressed to everyone who ever participated in helping the Juhu project.

“I always wanted on behalf of Srila Prabhupada to thank you and express our appreciation for your service, especially in the early days when Srila Prabhupada was beginning the preaching in Bombay and developing the Juhu project. And then on the night that Srila Prabhupada finally succeeded in getting the land after the signing of the documents and the honoring of prasāda, he reclined back on the bolsters of his āsana and remarked, ‘It was a good fight.’ And then he added someone should write a book about it.“

Oh yes, this is another thing.

“When Srila Prabhupada entered the agreement to purchase the land from Mr. Nair, he was concerned about the future of the transaction. He had some premonition and he wanted to secure the possession of the land. So practically, as soon as he got possession he brought the deities, Radha-Rasabihari.”

Because he thought possession is nine tenths of the law, and especially in India, you don’t expect anyone to be very strong when there are deities on the property. And so Srila Prabhupada told the deities, “My dear sir, you just come and stand here and I will build you a beautiful temple.” And Tamal Krishna Goswami would remark that we often hear of devotees performing austerities for the sake of the Lord. But in this case, the Lord performed austerities for the sake of the devotees, standing in the shed waiting for Srila Prabhupada to do the service.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Well, there is actually two levels to this: Why it was such a such a big issue? As far as  property, it was a beautiful property. Four acres a block from Juhu beach. And Prabhupada said, as far as property, he wanted to be near Juhu beach because it would always be an attraction, no matter what happened. Thousands of people would always come to Juhu beach; and that is true. But the other level was sometimes he would say, “Actually, I wasn’t so keen on the land as such but because I had invited Krishna, Radha-Rasabihari, it would have been a great insult to drive Them away.” And I think that was a more underlying reason or in a way a deeper reason that he just felt that it would have been a terrible insult. But as a property at that time he said that it was the best property in ISKCON because it was close enough to the city, that it was accessible to the people of Bombay. But it was far enough from the city and near the beach that it had a completely different atmosphere. It was really nice atmosphere being out there.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Yes that is true. And he made that comment, “Bombay is my office and Vrindavan is my home and Mayapur is my place of worship.” Good. So,

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ

suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām

ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ

sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ

The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.

Then I am speaking.

Although Srila Prabhupada himself perfectly exemplified the verse, he related the verse to the devotees in Juhu.

“Here all the boys and girls, the devotees, they are concerned with Radha-Krishna. That is all. Their whole business, day and night, is Radha-Krishna.”

Anyone who knew Prabhupada or has heard his talks, this is how he saw the devotees. I mean, he did see their faults and he did correct them but overall this is how he saw the devotees.

“Their whole business, day and night, is Radha-Krishna. From early morning, three o’clock, to night, ten o’clock, their only business is Radha-Krishna. That is all. Therefore they are sadhu.”

“And so many people are criticizing. We are not getting the sanction to build, because we have so many enemies. They say we are creating a ‘nuisance.’”

That is another story but,

“We are chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, and that is a ‘nuisance.’ This complaint is going to the police. So that is very difficult.”

Now this was a very big shock to Srila Prabhupada because one of the conditions for building was a No Objection Certificate from the police. And the No Objection Certificate was based on considerations like traffic, just how it could impact the environment. So the police commissioner wrote a letter denying the permission, NOC, No Objection Certificate, saying that the bhajans which have been a nuisance in the past will become even more so in the new temple. And it was at the time of the Mayapur-Vrindavan festival, Prabhupada was in Vrindavan, and when we sent the news to him he was furious that they were calling kirtan ‘nuisance.’ And he said, “We must protest this.” And so he came to Bombay. It wasn’t really part of the festival. And he brought devotees with him to protest. And I think Amarendra and Balabhadra, some people to deal with the politicians. And he was really, really strong. “We will go to the police commissioner’s office and we will have satyagraha.” That is sitting down and fast; they will sit down and fast till death unless they give the permission.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:02:36–01:02:38]

Giriraj Swami: 1974, exactly 1974, because we actually got the land in 1973. So once we got the land the next challenge was the permission to build. And so he was very much in that mood. But then one morning, and Prabhupada would do this to instruct us, one morning he took the other angle and he basically said, “This is their country, we are guests in their country. And if we annoy them and they don’t like it, they can just say ‘get out.’” And he quoted, ‘Never, never pick a fight with a crocodile while in the jurisdiction of the water.’ But then he said what we should do is, we should just go all over Bombay and have Hare Krishna festivals and impress upon people the value of Krishna consciousness. And then when they appreciate the value then they themselves will insist that the temple must be there. And then, Prabhupada is. . . I just can’t tell you how intelligent he is—kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana, empowered by Krishna. He wrote a letter to the commissioner. He had me sign it, I think. But basically what he said, he was so skillful, the way he presented it. He said that, “People have said that the kirtan is a ‘nuisance’ but the Bhagavad-gītā says, satatam kirtayanto mam, that one should always chant the glories of Krishna, one should always engage in kirtan. And, “You are a leader, you are the representative of Krishna because you are the authority. So you should protect us.” And Prabhupada quoted, na mā duktino mûhā prapadyante narādhamā, that those who don’t surrender to Krishna are like mudās, like fools, rascals, demons. And he appealed to him that, “You are in that position to protect us from these fools and rascals and demons who are saying that the kirtan is a nuisance.”

So he delivered the letter but there is so many intrigues. There was a lot of complications. Delivered the letter but because of all the intrigues the commissioner didn’t reply. And you know how it is in India, you wait, but then you want to remind them. But then again you don’t want to irritate them. Eventually Prabhupada said, “Okay, go down and find out what is happening.” So I went down. I couldn’t meet the commissioner. I don’t know if he was out or if he was in a meeting but he wasn’t available. He actually was not available. So, I asked the secretary; the secretary said that the commissioner received the letter and he read it and he said, “It was the best letter he ever received in his whole life.” But anyway, in the end of course everything turned around. That is another story. But at this stage, when Prabhupada was speaking, we were not getting the permission, and this Pushpakant Mahatrey, the local municipal corporator, it turns out he had a friend very high in the government. I think the Home Secretary in Maharashtra, a very high, almost the highest position under the ministers. And he was just convinced that we are CIA. And he was so high, the police are under the home secretary, pretty much everyone is under the Home Secretary. And so nothing was working. And then it was one of those things like with Mr Ganatra, how that worked with the land. So with the permission, it was one of those things. Gopal Krishna Maharaja and I figured, we would just go to the Chief Minister. I think we had gotten little hints that he was favorable.

So we went. And he actually met us, S.P Chauhan, very good man. He actually met us. And we explained the situation, he knew something about it. And in our presence, and this was real, I mean people can be very diplomatic, they can phone in front of you and it can all be a sham. He phoned in front of us. He spoke to the Home Secretary. And obviously the Home Secretary was saying so many things about us that he had gotten from Pushpakant Mahatrey. And the Chief Minister said, “Who is actually guilty? Are they guilty or are you guilty? I think actually, the people who are against them are the culprits, not them.” And it was amazing the way the politics works. When the Chief Minister came out very strongly for us, everyone else fell in line. Whereas, previously no matter what office we went nothing happened, we couldn’t get anything done. And suddenly wherever we went everyone was helping us. It was amazing. So everything followed one after the other. It is very important to. if you can, cultivate big people because they can just do so much to help that ordinary people can’t. So now, but when Prabhupada was giving this talk he was right in the midst of it and you can feel his emotion in his words.

“From early morning, three o’clock, to night, ten o’clock, their only business is Radha-Krishna. That is all. Therefore they are sadhu. And so many people are criticizing. We are not getting the sanction to build, because we have so many enemies. They say we are creating a ‘nuisance.’ We are chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, and that is a ‘nuisance.’ This complaint is going to the police. So that is very difficult.”

Then Srila Prabhupada became emotional and exclaimed, you can hear this on the tape.

“Therefore a sadhu is advised, titikṣava, tolerate! Tolerate all this nonsense! What can be done? We have no other alternative but to tolerate. Nobody is coming to help us. Our business is so thankless. Because we are trying to create one temple, so many enemies are giving hindrance: ‘You cannot do it.’ Therefore, titikṣava. You have to remain sadhu. You cannot become asādhu (non-sadhu). You have to tolerate. What can be done?”

“At the same time, you have to become merciful. You know what has happened in this place, Hare Krishna Land? So much attack by the police, by the municipality: ‘Break this temple.’ We could have gone, considering, ‘What is the use of taking so much botheration? We have hundreds of temples outside India. If people here are not liking, let us go away.’ No. kāruṇika. We have come to distribute Krishna consciousness. We must tolerate and give this message to the people. Kāruṇika: very merciful, in spite of all trouble.”

We are almost at the end here.

“These American boys and girls have come to help me–not that they have come because they are hungry. No. My mission is, ‘You Americans, you chant Hare Krishna so the people of India will see, “Oh, Americans are also chanting. Why not we?” But unfortunately–such dull brains–that thought is not coming. But still, we have to do it. We have to tolerate, and we have to become kāruṇika, merciful.

“Why should you want to be merciful? Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī.

Does anyone know what that phrase means? Describes a Vaishnava, one who. Yes Maharaja. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:13:55–01:14:05]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Para means others and duḥkha means unhappiness, duḥkhī, he is unhappy, he is unhappy in the unhappiness of others.

kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye

“There is no question of getting something, money. No. We have got sufficient money. But just to become merciful upon these fallen, conditioned souls, who are suffering on account of becoming animalistic, without Krishna consciousness, the preacher, the sadhus. . . These are sadhus – titikṣava, tolerant: ‘Never mind. Whatever hindrances and tribulations they are offering to us, never mind. Tolerate.”

“And suhrdah. Suhrdah means the heart is so nice. The Vaishnava is always thinking how a man can be saved from the clutches of maya.

“And ajata-satravaù. When one is living in that way, as a sadhu, why will others become his enemy? The sadhu does not create enemies, but people become enemies out of their own character. How can a sadhu create enemies? Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, and we are simply teaching, ‘My dear human being, my dear friend, you become a surrendered soul to Krishna.’ So what is our fault? So we don’t create any enemy, but they become enemy. Why shall I create enemy? Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinā. But they become, out of their own nature. . .

“So we are in this society, human society, and because we are spreading Krishna consciousness, the envious, who are more dangerous than snakes, are putting so many impediments. But we have to tolerate. We have no other alternative.”

He is actually preaching to us, while at the same time attributing to us the qualities mentioned in the verse, but at the same time preaching to us that we should adhere to these qualities.

“We have no other alternative. You see? Ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ. Be peaceful. What can be done? Depend on Krishna.

“These are the ornaments of a sadhu: titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. You must know what is a sadhu. First, a sadhu is a devotee. And if he is a devotee, then all the symptoms are there. Now, you find a sadhu and associate with him. Then your path of liberation will be open.”

So it is a spiritual principle that you develop the qualities of the persons you serve. It is mentioned in this First Canto, Second Chapter: syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ, one should serve great souls. And by doing so one develops their qualities. So Srila Prabhupada had these qualities, exemplified them, and he instructed us to develop them, to manifest them. And it takes time, it may not happen all of a sudden. But by serving a sadhu like Srila Prabhupada, and that possibility is always open to any one of us at any time, we develop those qualities. Now in the Second Chapter of the First Canto, it is mentioned: vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ, that by serving great souls who are free from vice, great service is done and one develops an affinity for the message of Vasudeva. And Srila Prabhupada comments on the purport that by serving great souls, mahat, one develops their qualities. And the first quality is attachment for hearing and chanting about Krishna, the taste we are hearing and chanting about Krishna. So by serving one develops that taste. And at the same time one also develops the other qualities. So those are the benefits of serving a sadhu.

And as you know from the beginning, this struggle in the end was successful. And the temple opened on this date, Makar Sankranti in 1978, thirty-five years ago. And there was a full page color article in Newsweek magazine. Now in those days color was just coming in to magazines. Before then, the cover would be color but the inside would all be black and white. But at that stage they were just introducing, maybe two or three pages with color. And so they dedicated a whole page to the opening of the Juhu temple with many nice colored photos. And there are dioramas in the Juhu temple. And one of the dioramas shows Srila Prabhupada, that famous photo of Srila Prabhupada standing under the tree in Tompkins Square Park. And so they published a number of photos and one was that. And then the caption was: From rags to Riches, the idea that Srila Prabhupada began under a tree in New York City and now there is this beautiful million-dollar marble temple and cultural complex. But in a way it was also, if you know what I mean, it was also a matter of rags to riches for Radha-Rasabihari because They were standing in this shed made with asbestos sheets and some bricks and some iron rods. And then They also had Their transition from the hut to the beautiful marble temple. But when we preach we have to expect enemies. If we just want to be popular and have. . . I mean of course, we do want to be popular and we do want people to like us, but we have to expect there will be enemies. And sometimes people would challenge, “Why do you have a big marble temple?” And Prabhupada would say, “Well, what else are you going to do with the marble. If we don’t use it in a temple for Krishna what is going to happen to it? Then use it for your bathroom.” And sometimes he even said that we want to offer this opulence to Krishna just to make the demons envious.

What is that, there is some phrase something like the best revenge is to live nicely or have you ever heard that saying, something like that, “The best revenge is to live nicely.” So in the end we gave Radha-Rasabihari the best facility, we gave whatever nice facility we could for Srila Prabhupada. And so it was an occasion of great rejoicing and that is what we are remembering and celebrating today.

Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari ki jaya!

Big Brother ISKCON Los Angeles ki jaya!

Hare Krishna.

So I think, we will say the class is officially over because devotees have service. But still I will stay and if any of you have questions. Yes, do any of you have any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:24:32–01:24:39]

Giriraj Swami: Oh Mrs. Nair. Did Mrs. Nair have a change of heart or did she remain inimical?

She did have a change of heart but at the same time she had very bad association. But she did have a change of heart. And when Srila Prabhupada left I was in Vrindavan. But Achyutananda Swami was in Juhu. And he said that at the program, the kirtan in the temple after Srila Prabhupada left he said, “And who was in the front row? Mrs. Nair.” And he said she was weeping. So she did. There were other times too where she really showed her affection to Srila Prabhupada but she was surrounded by very greedy people; her former husband’s friends and accomplices. But I think at heart she really did have affection for Srila Prabhupada and faith in Srila Prabhupada. Yes, Bhanumatta Prabhu?

Devotee: Thank you Maharaja. [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Oh! Oh wonderful! Yes, on the 25th anniversary, that was ten years ago, I so much wanted to be there. So I just phoned Juhu and yes I asked for Sridhra Swami. I really intended to speak with him and he really wanted me to come. And he was very disappointed when I didn’t come. But they couldn’t find him. But the receptionist at Juhu, I said, “Well, what about this one, what about that one?” And the receptionist said, “Well, Jagat Purush is passing by, should I give the phone to him? I said, “Yes, give the phone to him.” And Jagat Purush Prabhu your brother he was in such ecstasy. I mean literally he was in such ecstasy. He was just floating on waves of ecstasy. And he was just saying, how wonderful the reunion was and the celebrations. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:27:43–01:28:01]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Prabhupada said that someone should write a book. And I feel that is my duty, so I am finishing one more. It is pretty much finished about death and dying. And then yes.

Devotees: Haribol

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:28:32–01:28:53]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Watering the Seed, that was what I read from that. Anyway, yes. It is more about Srila Prabhupada directly, Watering the Seed and Many Moons. It is also about Prabhupada. But nine of Srila Prabhupada’s exalted followers who have left us and their service to Srila Prabhupada, how they were inspired by Srila Prabhupada and how they followed him and how they achieved very exalted states before they left. Yes Tattva Vit Prabhu?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes this is very instructive because the same opposition exists even now. And it was very vividly, yes, very good parallel between Juhu and Kazakhstan because they also came and broke buildings and it was horrible. Govinda Maharaja was with me. Yes, very soon after that. And he was hardly sleeping, really it was amazing. I don’t know how he did it, just so strong. But we made a call to Kazakhstan and we spoke to all the devotees. First B.B Govinda Swami. And Niranjana Swami was staying with me then too and then he spoke and I spoke. And it was so emotional. And then afterwards, we were all crying, individually we were crying. And then at the end the three of us just hugged and we were crying. So yes, and Bhakti Vigyan Maharaja from Moscow is a very intelligent person. He, on his own could see the parallels. And so he actually asked me if I had anything about that, that I could send them, that he could share with the devotees to encourage them. That is very good you mentioned this. I think I will send this thing, Prabhupada’s talk. Yes I think that is very appropriate.

Devotee: Thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you Tattva Vit. But we are so dependent on, devotees in general, especially my godbrothers. Coming in I was so void. My spirits were so lifted seeing my godbrothers and then I saw Rameshwar Prabhu. I didn’t notice him when I first came in and then I forgot, was it Makhanlal or Govinda Swami? Bhakti Madhurya. Yes, beautiful Bhakti Madhurya, Govind Swami. so important that we associate with each other. All right, thank you very much.

Hare Krishna.