SB 2.8.6 – Taking Risks for Krishna and Preaching

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. I was also asked to speak on the same thing but I think it was presented to me a little differently and the way I heard it was just to talk about taking risks for Krishna in the cause of preaching or to be ready to take risk for Krishna which would free our energy for preaching. 

The basis of Krishna consciousness is faith (sraddha) and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta defines faith as the firm conviction that just by hearing Krishna, all other activities will be fulfilled. And the process of advancing in Krishna consciousness is actually the process of increasing faith. All the different stages of advancement beginning with sraddha, bhava, prema, they are just increasing faith, the more mature manifestations of faith. And faith develops in the association of devotees from hearing. 

Now hearing can be done with offenses and without offenses—like chanting. It is the same, chanting and hearing. If we commit offenses while hearing our faith will not increase or if it does, it will take a long time. So someone could be here but be full of doubts, full of material attachments. One of the offenses against the holy name is not to have complete faith in the chanting and to maintain material attachments even in spite of hearing so many instructions on the matter. So if one commits offenses, one won’t get the benefit of associating with devotees and hearing the message of Krishna consciousness. 

Our material attachments can be justified in many ways and of course the basic rationalization would be that we have responsibilities. We have our wives, our children, our parents. We have responsibilities. But there is a mystery to Krishna consciousness or you could say a magic to Krishna consciousness which is that by giving to Krishna you don’t lose but you gain. Recently I had a discussion with a devotee in Houston about the mentality that if someone is doing some service and then someone else wants the same person to do some other service, the person’s authority might object thinking that, “Oh, if the person does service for the other authority or the other program then there will be that much less service being done in my department or for my program.” And I told a story of an incident that took place in India in Juhu. 

At the time it was some years after Prabhupada left but there was still the spirit of book distribution and there were a number of westerners in the saṅkīrtana department. At the same time there was a Khumba-mela in Nasik and that was a big opportunity to preach, but somewhere the organization was lacking, the support was not forthcoming. So we got a message that they need devotees. Our Deena Bandhu Prabhu who is based in Vrindavan wanted more devotees.

So pretty much the only devotees we had were the saṅkīrtana devotees. The movement then wasn’t like it is now. It was much smaller. I thought this was a special opportunity, we should just send our saṅkīrtana devotees. It was an almost immediate reciprocation from Krishna that practically to the men that we sent to Nasik that many new devotees joined. It was miraculous. It was really miraculous. So I mentioned that.

Prabhupada often said that one who gives to Krishna is not the loser but he is the gainer by many times.

Now I am going to read a little bit from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This verse and purport are so deep that we can discuss them for hours and preceding verses. It could be days but because our time is limited I will just read from this one verse and purport. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Eight: “Questions by King Parīkṣit.”

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

TEXT 6

dhautātmā puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa-

pāda-mūlaṁ na muñcati

mukta-sarva-parikleśaḥ

pānthaḥ sva-śaraṇaṁ yathā

TRANSLATION

A pure devotee of the Lord whose heart has once been cleansed by the process of devotional service never relinquishes the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, for they fully satisfy him, as a traveler is satisfied at home after a troubled journey.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

One who is not a pure devotee of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is not completely cleansed in the heart. But a perfectly cleansed person never quits the devotional service of the Lord. In discharging such devotional service, as ordered by Brahmājī to Nārada in the preaching of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sometimes a representative of the Lord engaged in preaching work meets various so-called difficulties. This was exhibited by Lord Nityānanda when He delivered the two fallen souls Jagāi and Mādhāi, and similarly Lord Jesus Christ was crucified by the nonbelievers. But such difficulties are very gladly suffered by the devotees in preaching because in such activities, although apparently very severe, the devotees of the Lord feel transcendental pleasure because the Lord is satisfied.

COMMENT

Sometimes we find that you feel the greatest ecstasy when the situation is the most difficult externally. I remember once I had gone to North Calcutta—this was in 1971 when there was almost no sewage system. I don’t know if things have changed—and it was storming and the water was getting deeper and deeper and deeper. And again this might have changed, but Prabhupada said this is like the characteristic of Indians that they appear lazy when it comes to material things but when it comes to spiritual things they are very active. I saw it even at the Khumba-mela the rickshawalas, they would be sleeping in their rickshaws and if you wanted a ride they might or might not give you one, but when it was time to take bath at the auspicious moment, they were right there because their values were like that.

So during that storm there were almost no vehicles on the street—you really had to go through deep water—and hardly any taxis. I was a long way. I couldn’t have walked but having nothing else to do I was walking and chanting. And every once in a while a taxi would come and my hopes would get up and it was full. But at that time I felt such bliss because there was no other reason for me to have been there other than the service of Srila Prabhupada and that gave me so much happiness. 

Say we come to a program here, nice house, nice decorations, nice people, nice prasāda. There are other reasons to be here besides Krishna consciousness but there was no other reason for me to be there in knee deep water—and it wasn’t just water but we will simplify it and just call it water—other than the service of Srila Prabhupada.

So this is something we can experience that sometimes even in the most awkward external situation we feel the deepest bliss in sadhana. One devotee mentioned, it is natural, he always wants the body to be in the most comfortable position for chanting japa or whatever, but it may happen that when you are in a very uncomfortable position physically your japa is better.

PURPORT (continued)

Prahlāda Mahārāja suffered greatly, but still he never forgot the lotus feet of the Lord. This is because a pure devotee of the Lord is so purified in his heart that he cannot leave the shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa in any circumstances. There is no self-interest in such service. The progress of culturing knowledge by the jñānīs or the bodily gymnastics by the yogīs are ultimately given up by the respective performers, but a devotee of the Lord cannot give up the service of the Lord, for he is ordered by his spiritual master. Pure devotees like Nārada and Nityānanda Prabhu take up the order of the spiritual master as the sustenance of life. They do not mind what becomes of the future of their lives. They take the matter very seriously, as the order comes from the higher authority, from the representative of the Lord, or from the Lord Himself.

COMMENT

This purport, this line that I just read had a very profound effect on one of our godbrothers who was faced with a very difficult situation. He was being asked to take action against someone who had been in the movement and who had apparently ordered the murder of one or more devotees and he was being asked to not challenge that person but to speak the truth about that person. Knowing the history of the person’s behavior it is possible that he or his followers could have retaliated by murdering him or doing something horrible to his wife or children.

So he was reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he read this line, “They do not mind what becomes of the future of their lives.” He asked his wife what he should do and she said, “You must do it.” She supported him fully. She was in the same mood. And he did it and as it turns out nothing happened.

He also thought of a story that shows that you cannot escape your destiny by your material plans or devices. It comes from Persian literature and in this story a master sent his servant to the marketplace to purchase some items for the estate and while he was in the marketplace he was jostled by Death personified and he panicked. As we would say, he freaked out. He just stopped everything and ran back to his master and he said, “I was in the marketplace and Death personified jostled me and looks at me in a very menacing way. So I fled and I am going to Samara.” That is another city.

The master was protective and he also needed things from the market so he went into the marketplace and he met Death personified there. Then he said, “My servant told me that you jostled him and you looked at him in a menacing way. You terrified him and he ran away. Why did you do that?” Then Death said, “I wasn’t looking at him in a menacing way. I was just surprised to see him in Bagdad because I have an appointment with him this afternoon in Samara.” [laughter]

Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu thought, “If it is my destiny I won’t be able to escape it,” but it wasn’t and he was protected by the Lord.

So when we take risks there should be some calculation. You have heard the phrase “calculated risk.” There should be some calculation. We should not rush into situations blindly. We should be aware of the possible repercussions of what we do and then we should calculate, “Is this a worthy risk or not.”

I will tell one story—it is not good to use myself as an example—after we received the news that Tamal Krishna Goswami had left, I immediately thought, “I must come to Dallas.” At the time I was receiving phone calls from so many devotees who had been affected by the shock of the loss. One devotee raised the point that there is a court case going on, Window Turley case, and the center of that court case was Dallas. And in the court case they were trying to get all the leaders of ISKCON and I was on the list for sure but they didn’t have my address. So up until then I had avoided being served a summons or notice. So they said, “You are going to Dallas, it is the center of the court case, these people have their spies everywhere looking, especially for the leaders, to try to get them.” And so he advised me, “You could just be like the sitting duck. You will be an easy target.” 

I thought about it and I was calculating, but then at a certain point, I guess different people have different ways of processing, I am quite more intuitive, but at a certain point I just got an intuition that I should go. It was a calculated risk. I knew that there was risk but I just felt I should go.

So I went to Nityananda Prabhu’s former residence and then I came to the temple. I didn’t know what would happen. It was all right. I didn’t get. . . But we also took precaution. I didn’t hang out on Gurley Avenue unnecessarily but I did what I felt I had to do.

So sometimes we have to take a little leap of faith and when we do that we can feel Krishna’s reciprocation. If we are always very protective of our situations then we never get to see Krishna’s magic, because we are depending on our resources, our intelligence, our wealth, our social connections—whatever it is—but when we take that risk then we can see how Krishna reciprocates and that is why the preacher is so dear to Krishna because he depends more fully on Krishna. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if a parent is crossing the street with some children and suddenly car appears coming very quickly, the parent loves all the children, but the parent’s first thought will be to the youngest who’s the most dependent on the parent’s protection. So Prabhupada was saying it is like that with the preacher that he depends more on Krishna. Krishna loves all His devotees, loves all living entities, but He thinks first of the preacher because the preacher is more dependent on Him.

So I am glad that [Dvaraka?] Prabhu has invited us and all of you and given us the subject of today’s talks and it is an honor and privilege to be sitting next to His Holiness Gunagrahi Maharaja and His Holiness Giridhari Swami Maharaja who have taken so many risks and continue to take risks for Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. 

Hare Krishna.