Bhaktivedanta Swami Mission School Annual Day

Giriraj Swami: It is a great pleasure for me to be here on this occasion, especially in this beautiful new facility that we have now. And seeing the children reminded me of the beginning of Krishna conscious children’s education in Juhu. Those of you who have visited the Juhu temple at Hare Krishna land in the past might have seen that at the back of the property there were six apartment buildings that were there before Srila Prabhupada acquired the Hare Krishna land, and there were tenants living in those apartments and most of them were pretty young parents and they had small children. So the children used to run around the land and make a lot of noise which children are prone to do. And Srila Prabhupada was staying there and one of the disciples approached him that, “These children are running around and making so much noise, we have to find some way to keep them quiet.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “You cannot keep them quiet, that is not possible. But that propensity to run around and make noise can be dovetailed in Krishna consciousness so that instead of just shouting and screaming, they chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.”

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

So that was the beginning of our informal school. Every day the devotees would gather the children and teach them to chant, teach them to worship the tulasi plants, teach them the basic philosophy of the Bhagavad-gītā, teach them various prayers. And the children liked it so much that it became the favorite part of their day. They would literally rush into the garden where the devotees would teach them to sing for Krishna, and pray, and learn about Krishna consciousness.

So that was Srila Prabhupada’s mood and that is the basic instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā, that we don’t stop anything but we engage everything in a positive way. In a positive way means ultimately in God consciousness or Krishna consciousness. And the same principle applies from the beginning of one’s life until the end, and that is that we are individual persons. The Bhagavad-gītā explains that we are individual souls who have always existed. There was never a time when we did not exist, and there will never be a time when we do not exist. And Krishna or God is the Supreme Soul, and the natural relationship between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul is that the individual soul is the eternal servant of God, the Supreme Soul. And when we act in that position that is our normal healthy, blissful, spiritual condition. Just like the hand is part of the body, it is the natural function of the hand to serve the body. If the hand is not serving the body there is something wrong, it is paralyzed, it is diseased, there is something wrong. So when we as individual souls are not engaged in serving the Supreme Soul there is something wrong, that is our diseased condition of life. And the symptom of our disease condition of life is that we have this material body which is subject to, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, repetition of birth, disease, old age, and death.

So the purpose of Vedic civilization and the ultimate purpose of education is to help the soul become liberated from this repetition of birth and death, samsara chakra. And the Vedic literatures say, “No one should become a mother, no one should become a father, no one should become a husband, no one should become a teacher, no one should become a ruler, unless he or she can save his or her dependent from the repetition of birth and death.” So, of course, these values are the traditional values of India and they were quite prominent even up until, well one hundred and fifty years ago they were still very prominent, but of course, now Kali-yuga, we are in the modern age of Kali so there is an erosion of these traditional values. But otherwise, everyone understood that if I am going to become a mother or a father I have a responsibility to my child that that child should not have to take birth again and suffer the miseries of material existence.

So, this school is now to assist you in fulfilling that responsibility to your children, and the teachers they also have a great responsibility, gurur na sa syāt pitā na sa syāt, they are also responsible that any student who comes to them, they also have the same responsibility to save them from the repetition of birth and death. So this is a great science, sometimes people may misunderstand that this is some sentiment or some religion, but actually, it is a great science. The Bhagavad-gītā teaches universal principles. You don’t find the word Hindu anywhere in the Bhagavad-gītā but it is universal, eternal knowledge. And the school and the lives of the leaders of the school are based on those principles.

So, I am not sure how conscious all of you were about the great service you are doing to your children by placing them in the school but somehow or other by your goodness, good fortune, and good hearts, and good sense, you have enrolled your children in the school and we are dedicated to making their experience in the school as fruitful as possible in every way. And we also, as I hinted, see ourselves working in partnership with all of you to give these beautiful souls who are presently in these cute little bodies the future that they deserve and that will make us all proud of them and will fulfill our missions as their parents and teachers and well-wishers. So, I congratulate you, I suggest that as far as possible you support the children’s efforts and the school’s efforts by reading the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and take it as an opportunity for you also to grow spiritually along with your children on the principles of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.

So, we are here at your service and I look forward to seeing you next year and next year as these beautiful little souls blossom in their development as human beings.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.