SB 2.3.23 – Service Is My Life

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. It is a great pleasure, and a long-awaited fulfillment of a desire that I am with you here today in New Goloka dhāma. I’ve met many of you over the years and served with some of you. Sri Sri Radha Golokananda ki jaya! And now, we are together here. Before beginning, I asked two of the leading devotees here what I should speak about, and they said sadhu-saṅga because we’re going into the sadhu-saṅga retreat, and Prabhupada, who is a super sadhu. So, I thought to read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three: “Pure Devotional Service,” Text Twenty-Three. Please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 23

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ

na jātu martyo ‘bhilabheta yas tu

śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ

śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

TRANSLATION

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts. There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.12.12):

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti

na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā

na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair

vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam

“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”

In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna. So, we are all here by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada who came to America at the advanced age of seventy years, and brought with him the holy name of Krishna and the mercy of the guru-paramparā. And by inspiring people to take shelter of the mercy of the paramparā and chant the holy names of Krishna, we are all here today. And it was not easy. Of course, it was not easy, but even physically, it was not easy. Srila Prabhupada suffered two heart attacks at sea while crossing the Atlantic by steamship. And even after arriving in New York, he suffered many bodily difficulties.

When we were serving in the Calcutta temple in 1971 the devotees were very poor, and we hardly had enough nutrition to continue. Srila Prabhupada had one disciple named Sudama Vipra who was in the Philippines. He was American, he was a health agent, he had a very strong build. And he came to India, and his body was so starved that after the ārati, he would pick up the burnt ghee wicks and squeeze as much of the ghee that was left at the bottom of the ghee wick onto his hand and lick it, he was so famished.

Prabhupada appreciated it. Once, Srila Prabhupada was traveling by train. In the beginning, we all traveled by train, even Srila Prabhupada in India. And when Srila Prabhupada got out of the train, a big crowd was there, and I guess the devotees did kirtan. And then, Sudama Vipra spoke, and he said that before coming to India he imagined that India was a very beautiful place with hills and forests and rivers, like this, and that it was populated by sadhus and yogis in meditation or in service. But when he got to India, he saw something very different. He saw crowded cities filled with dirt, shell, squalor, disease. He saw many deformed people on the streets, begging. And he said that from the perspective of a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada who is a resident of the spiritual world, we all look like those deformed vendors and lepers. The body itself is a disease, horrible, makes us grotesque. And afterwards, Srila Prabhupada remarked that he had spoken very nicely.

So, anyway, at that time in Calcutta, the devotees were in quite a lot of distress, and they were just waiting for Srila Prabhupada to come to make things right. And different devotees approached him, and he listened to them, and then he said, “All right, we’ll call a meeting of all the devotees.” So, all the disciples came into Prabhupada’s room, still there in south Calcutta, and they had many complaints, and Srila Prabhupada listened to them very patiently and sympathetically. And at one stage, the GBC representative felt hurt, became a little defensive, and he said, “I was just trying to fulfill the will of your divine grace.” And Srila Prabhupada replied with a tinge of sarcasm, “Is it the will of my divine grace that all the devotees should be disturbed?”

So, he listened to everything that every single devotee had to say, and then he appointed some officers and he said they should meet every week and discuss all the issues and challenges. And then, whatever they decide, they should write in the minute book and they should follow it. But then, Srila Prabhupada’s mood changed, and he said that our real business is to chant and hear about Krishna and think of Krishna. And if we spend too much time talking about the problems, then our real spiritual life will be lost; we won’t be chanting and hearing about Krishna. And then, Srila Prabhupada said, “I never complained because my motto was always ‘everything for Krishna and nothing for myself.’” And he mentioned how while traveling on the cargo ship, he had two heart attacks, and then even in New York, he had so many difficulties. He had ringing in his head, headaches. He said that he suffered in so many ways and he does not even want to discuss how he suffered, but he never complained because his motto was always ‘everything for Krishna and nothing for me.’

Of course, we may think that Srila Prabhupada could do that, and have that need. But once, I, of course, not on the same level but still, in the same mood. . . HH Niranjan Swami was staying with us in Santa Barbara, and we always try our best to offer the best service to the devotees who come to visit. And somehow, I went up to visit him in his quarters, and I saw two sets of cloth in the pile in the corner, and I thought, Wow, some laps here, they didn’t come to take his laundry. And I saw something else, maybe a plate that he’d eaten from, it hadn’t been taken away. I thought, Wow, this is really bad. So, I said, “Maharaja, I see you have your laundry here, it needs to be washed, and they didn’t take away the dishes and maybe one other thing.” I said, “You should have told us. Why didn’t you tell us? We’re here to facilitate your stay, your service, your health.”

To bring you to the immediate point of discussion, I was relating a certain state in the Calcutta temple in 1971. The devotees were living a very meager existence, not even getting enough nourishing prasāda. And there were many problems, and the devotees were just waiting for Srila Prabhupada to come to rectify the situation.

So, a few devotees met him individually, and then he called the meeting of all the disciples to hear their complaints or concerns, and after listening very patiently and instituting a system that was meant to deal with the problems, he sort of changed his attack, and he said that he never complained about anything although he had suffered in so many ways, even bodily conditions. But he never complained because his motto was ‘everything for Krishna and nothing for me.’

And then, I said that although we may not have it in the same way as Srila Prabhupada, on the same level, but we can also have that mood. And just as you walked in, I was telling a story of when HH Niranjan Swami was staying at our ashram in Santa Barbara. And we really try to provide whatever our guests need. Somehow, I’m not sure what happened, I hadn’t gone up to his quarters for a couple of days. . . I mean, we would meet otherwise for prasāda, but I hadn’t gone up to his quarters.

And I saw there were two sets of clothes in the pile on the floor, and maybe some dishes hadn’t been taken away, and something else. And so, I said, “Maharaja, why didn’t you tell me? We’re here to serve you, to facilitate you and your service and your health and your practices. Why didn’t you tell us?” He said, “I always feel that I don’t deserve anything, and therefore, I never ask for anything.” So, that was quite something.

And another time, HH Devamrita Swami came to visit when Niranjan Swami was there. And the quarters we have for the visiting sannyasis, godbrothers, special guests, it’s a large room. One end is a bedroom, and then there’s a middle section that’s for chanting, and then there’s an office section, and then there’s a separate kitchen and a separate bathroom. So, HH Niranjan Swami was already there, and HH Devamrita Swami came to visit. So, we also have another guest room with an attached bath, which is just a normal guest room with a bed, desk.

And so, it was time for evening prasāda, and I asked Niranjan Swami, “Do you want anything?” “No.” I asked Devamrita Swami, “Do you want anything?” He said, “No.” So, I thought, Okay, we’ll go up and visit Niranjan Swami. So, Devamrita Swami and I went up, and Niranjan Swami asked, “Do you want anything to eat?” And Devamrita Swami said, “What do you have?” “Bread, olive oil, tofu.” He had a few things. So, Devamrita Swami said, “Yeah, I’ll have some of that.”

So then, Niranjan Swami went into the kitchen, and I had not seen him so happy. I mean, he was so happy, and he would come out, he brought the plate. And I thought, I’ll go along for some of it too. He brought out the toast and the olive oil, the tofu, maybe some lettuce, just whatever he had in the refrigerator and in the pantry. And I said, “Maharaja, I have not seen you so happy. I can’t even remember ever seeing you this happy.” And he said, “Service is my life. And it’s so rare that I get to serve my godbrothers. I’m always taking service. Service is my life, and that’s why I’m so happy.”

So, I began talking about Srila Prabhupada, but the verse and purport, they are about the pure devotee, but also about the process of becoming a pure devotee. One becomes a pure devotee by serving another pure devotee, and that is the system. As Prabhupada said, that is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

So, coming back to the beginning of the whole discussion, we are here because Srila Prabhupada left India at an advanced age, came to America at the age of seventy, and sat down under a tree in Tompkins Square Park and chanted Hare Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Any devotee can go anywhere in the world, in any city of the world, and sit down under a tree and chant Hare Krishna. And people will gather around, and they will ask, ‘Who is this crazy person?’ And then you can explain the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gītā and the chanting of the holy names.”

Now, the verse, and as explained in the purport, a dead person although breathing is a ghost, and ghosts do exist. When someone leaves his body, generally, he will enter into one of the eight million four hundred thousand species of life. And according to your activities and thoughts at the time of death, you get your next body. Now, if someone commits suicide, it means he doesn’t want a gross body. But generally, people who commit suicide have strong material desires, and because they’re frustrated and disappointed because their desires have not been fulfilled, so they commit suicide. So, they can get the body of a ghost. They didn’t want a gross body, so they get a subtle body as a ghost. Sometimes people are very attached to their mansions or palaces or castles, and they die thinking of their castle. So, there’s no form of life of a castle, but they’ll take birth as a ghost in the castle or mansion.

And it so happened that in the early days of the movement, because we didn’t have that much money, devotees became aware of some big mansions that were haunted, castles that were haunted. And they asked Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada replied, “You can buy it, and you just do hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana and the ghosts will go away. And you get a big, opulent property for a good price.” So, the devotees did that.

But ghosts also disturb ordinary people. Like Prabhupada says, even devotees, ghosts can disturb devotees. And if someone is possessed by a ghost, he will have thoughts that are not his usual thoughts, they look very different from his or her natural mentality or consciousness.

And in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami has a beautiful verse that says that those who desire bhukti, material enjoyment, or mukti, impersonal liberation. . . The desire for impersonal liberation or material enjoyment, those desires are like ghosts that haunt the conditioned soul. Because in our original nature, we want to serve Krishna, we don’t want bhukti or mukti. So, to have that mentality, “I want to enjoy,” it’s actually a defiance of Krishna. “I don’t want you to be the enjoyer, I want to be the enjoyer. I don’t want you to be the center, I want to be the center.” And same with wanting to merge and become one with God. That’s also a type of envy of God. Both are offensive. So, when our minds have these desires, it’s like being haunted by a ghost, it’s not really us.

And I recall hearing decades ago from my old friend, Jagatpurush Prabhu, that the first time he came into the Detroit temple and Srila Prabhupada was speaking, he was speaking on this point. And it’s in The Nectar of Devotion, it’s sort of a paraphrase of Rupa Gosvami’s Sanskrit verse. And he was saying that anyone who wants to become more and more important, either in the material sense or the spiritual sense, like becoming God, he cannot experience the sweet taste of Krishna consciousness. But if one aspires to be the servant, and as Jagatpurush Prabhu explained, Prabhupada was moving his finger like the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, then Krishna consciousness becomes sweeter and sweeter and sweeter and sweeter and sweeter.

And that is our process, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. And so, we practice both; being the servant of the servants, and we practice cleansing our hearts by offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy names and glories of Krishna. And this is true.

I had heard that the material world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. So, everything that exists in the material world also exists in the spiritual world. But in the spiritual world, it’s original pure form. So, I asked our godbrother Pradyumna dasa, who was Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editor, Srila Prabhupada used to call him Panditji, “We have pride in the material world. What is the original form of pride in the spiritual world?”

And he said he thought that he had read it in Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, but he had read in one of the sacred texts that the counterpart of pride in the spiritual world is to be the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant, and to be the last in the line. And in the material world, it’s to be the boss of the boss of the boss of the boss of the boss of the boss, and the chief of the chief of the chief of the chief of the chief. And he said that the spiritual counterpart of material pride is to be the servant of the servant, the last of the line, “I have more masters than anyone else.” We want to have more servants than anyone else, and in the spiritual world it means, “I want to have more masters than anyone else.” And although Srila Prabhupada asserted himself as the acharya, as a service, but internally, he was in the mood of being the servant of the servants.

In fact, initially, the first Guru Gauranga altar with Deities was in the Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavan. And originally, when they asked Srila Prabhupada how he wanted his Deity, he said he wanted it like this. And then, they ended up with kirtan, which is also wonderful. I’m sure there’s a story behind it, maybe it will come in Yamuna devi’s book, which is getting ready for publication.

And another time, Srila Prabhupada was speaking about varnashrama-dharma; brahman, kshatriya, vaishya, sudra, and brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasi. So, there was some newspaper reporter sort of in a challenging mood. He said, “You’ve described all these different categories, the hierarchy of different categories. So, where do you fit in the hierarchy?” She was just expecting that he was presenting the whole explanation to establish himself at the top. And Srila Prabhupada silently looked down and he said, “I am the lowest. I am the servant of everyone.” So, that was really his mood. And such a person is so dear to Krishna. Of course, that mood of service is exhibited by helping people come to Krishna. I mean, if you want to serve someone, we can serve them in different ways; physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. But of all of those, spiritual is the most important, it lasts. The others may be helpful for some time, but reviving one’s Krishna consciousness is eternal.

I remember before I met Srila Prabhupada, I had the mood of doing good for others. And in high school, I was the president of the future doctors society. And so, I had that idea. Then when I went to college, I found there were people who were suffering a lot, not physically but mentally, and then I saw that their suffering could be more intense than the suffering of people with physical melodies. And then, I thought, This is more important than ministering to the body. So, I became a psychology major. And I had a lot of hopes going into the psychology department. It was actually quite an extraordinary department and it had a very significant part to play in my spiritual life, which I’ll explain in a minute or two.

But the chairman of the department was Abraham Maslow. And up until then, the two main schools in psychological teaching were the behaviorists, who believed in stimulus and response. At that time being skinner was the main figure. And then, the other was psychoanalysis, which was begun by Sigmund Freud and others elaborated on it. I remember reading Eric Erickson, I liked him. But Abraham Maslow, he was saying that behaviorism studies animals, and psychoanalysis studies diseased people. So, there should be a third force in psychology to study healthy people.—So, he took that up throughout the whole theory, hierarchical needs and peak experiences.

So, it looked good, but as I got closer to the department, I mean, I wasn’t privy to any of it, but I would just hear, “Oh, they’re fighting over appointments.” Because even though Maslow was the dominant figure, but there were one or two behaviorists. They were fighting over who would be appointed and fighting over how the budget would be to be divided. And then, I started hearing psychologists and psychiatrists have the highest rate of suicide of any profession. So, the whole mystique sort of started to evaporate.

But one of my professors, and I am indebted to him for this, he invited Srila Prabhupada and the devotees to Brandeis University. I had been looking for a guru. There’s so much to say and not that much time. But I will quote this. One devotee in London, an Indian man who came after Srila Prabhupada had left, he went through such torture to find a bona fide spiritual master. He has a son, he’s quite a nice devotee, but he was saying, “You shouldn’t take it for granted. If your parents were exposed to Krishna consciousness from the beginning, you shouldn’t take it for granted.”

So, anyway, I was in that condition, I was looking for a guru. So, bodily platform, medicine, that wasn’t the solution, the psychological level, mental platform, that wasn’t the solution. So then, spiritual. And as I was reading books, I understood I needed a guru. I went to so many, I could write a book about it, about all the different gurus I met. And I was looking for my perfect master. And every one of them, I found some fault. And I would go anywhere within a thousand miles, and I was becoming hopeless. Also, somehow, I had a mental impression of what my guru looked like, and he didn’t have hair. All the other ones had long hair, beards, and I didn’t find one without hair. So, that made it even more hopeless.

So, I was almost at the stage to give up looking. Actually, I decided to go to India, and that was it. So, anyway, then I saw these posters on campus, ‘A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, such and such place, such and such time.’ But by then, I was so discouraged. I was disappointed so many times, I didn’t want to be disappointed again.

So, I had some friends over for dinner, I was vegetarian by then, and we were going to go to a movie at Harvard Square afterwards. So, everything was going according to plan, and somehow, I kept seeing that poster. So, I brought up to my friends, “There’s a lecture on campus. I think we should go to it.” “No, we’re going to the movies.” “Well, we’ll go to the late show. We’ll go to the lecture first, and then we’ll go to the late show.” So, one of my friends, a lady friend, was especially upset. And I was the type of person, I didn’t like to displease anyone, I wanted to oblige everyone, I just didn’t want to displease anyone.

So, I kept trying to agree but something inside of me just kept forcing me, “You must go to this lecture.” And then, they put the pressure on me and I started to agree, and then this irresistible force within my heart was pushing me, “You must go.” And then, finally, the lady friend just blurted out, “Why can’t you be normal like other people? Why do you always have to be running after all these swamis and yogis?” And then I blurted out, “All right, this will be the last one I ever go to.” [laughter] [applause] And it was.

So, every evening, well, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Prabhupada would speak at the little storefront, and Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday he would speak outside, usually at a university campus, and then Sunday was the Sunday Feast. So, at one of the evening programs at Northeastern University, maybe Boston College, Prabhupada spoke. It was a classroom with chairs and there were students and staff, and there was an area there in the front where the devotees did kirtan, and then Prabhupada was on the dais.

So, during the last kirtan, we were dancing in a circle. And as I was dancing, I was feeling this love come over me. Just looking at all the people in the classroom and feeling love for them. And then that feeling of love increased, it went beyond the walls of the classroom, spilled out into the neighborhood, and out to the West coast, across the Pacific Ocean, filling the universe. I was thinking, Wow, this is a deep experience. I think it was.

And I was very new, I’ve never approached Srila Prabhupada one-on-one. I wouldn’t raise my hand and ask a question. I was so overwhelmed that I came up, he was sitting on a raised platform, and I said, “Prabhupada, this chanting is wonderful.” And when he heard those words, I could see they went deep in his heart because he knew what it meant more than I did even, and he started chuckling. And I knew he wasn’t laughing at me, I knew it was ecstasy, he was in ecstasy. And he just looked at me with love and compassion and said [Unintelligible 01:10:21], “Thank you very much.”

So then, when the devotees saw that I was coming every evening. . . They didn’t have a car; I had a car. They would get a taxi for Prabhupada, [Unintelligible 01:10:49]. So, I offered to drive Srila Prabhupada. So, I came early once, and he had an apartment across the street from the storefront. You could just feel all the love. The first devotee who ever spoke to me was Bharadraja Prabhu. To me, everyone was such a senior devotee, not just a senior devotee, a pure devotee. And little did I know that he had just come down from Montreal a few days earlier. But anyway, I could just feel the love, and he said that years and years later, that yes, his realization was that Krishna consciousness is just love masquerading as a philosophy.

So, I was going to drive Prabhupada, and he sort of dismissed the devotees to get ready, and I was left alone in the room with him. So, I thought, Now I’m alone in the room with Srila Prabhupada, he’s a pure devotee. So, I thought, He’s going to impart some esoteric truths to me. So, he said, “So, where are you from?” “Chicago.” And he asked me about my parents, my studies. I thought, Well, I guess I’m not on that level that I thought I was. That’s what I thought then, but now I’m thinking he just wanted to put me at ease. So then, we drove to Harvard University Divinity School, and Prabhupada spoke, and at the end, he asked for questions. And the hands shot up, they thought they were very smart. And maybe either way, a lot of hands shot up.

So, one young man said, “You say that by chanting God’s name all problems will be solved. But at the turn of the century, there was a group in Russia. They were also chanting God’s name but it didn’t do anything, it was only the revolution that changed things. So, that’s what we need, not chanting God’s name.” And Prabhupada replied, “So, the people in Russia now, are they happy?” The boy looked down and said, “Well, no.” And Prabhupada said, “Then what is the use? And even if for some time it’s better, it will get worse again. This is not the way to improve things.”

Then another hand shot up, “You’re saying that we should chant, ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,’ but can’t we just as well repeat anything, like, ‘One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three,’ and that would have the same effect?” Prabhupada replied, “Of course, that is not possible, but you can try counting. And when you’re tired of counting, you can try chanting.” [laughter] And then, everyone just broke up, they all cracked up in laughter, one after the other.

The last one, he said, “Have you seen God?” And Prabhupada replied, “If I tell you falsely that I’ve seen God, will you believe me?” He said, “No, I wouldn’t.” And Prabhupada said, “Then what is the use of asking such a question?” [laughter] And everyone laughed. So, I was in bliss, I was in euphoria. I was just wandering around among the students, listening to their talk. And then suddenly, one of the devotees came running up to me and said, “Prabhupada is waiting for the car.” I had totally forgotten. I went running, I jumped in the car, brought it over, it was a red rambler station wagon, all the devotees piled in. I don’t know how, but they all piled in.

And so, I started driving, but by then, it was dark and I couldn’t see any familiar landmarks, and I started thinking, We might be lost here, but I didn’t want to admit it. [laughter] But I knew it was generally this way, somewhat that way. We kept going further and further and I realized that we were really lost and I had absolutely no idea where we were. [laughter] So, I turned around and asked, “Does anyone know the way back?” [laughter] And no one knew. And then Prabhupada, he was sitting in the passenger seat and I was in the driver’s seat, he looked at me and said, “Is not the driver supposed to know the way?” And I was thinking, I didn’t know I was the driver, I just had a car so I just offered to drive. I didn’t know I had duties and responsibilities, that’s a driver. Anyway, somehow, we all put our brains together and we managed to come back.

So, when we got back to Prabhupada’s apartment, I jumped out and raced around to open the door, and I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I’m sorry I got us lost.” And Prabhupada again, he looked at me with those eyes, moist and full with love and compassion, and he said, “That’s all right.” And that meant so much to me because I already knew that this was the perfect philosophy, the perfect process, and I knew that if Prabhupada wanted, he could turn anyone into powder in a moment. I mean, I just saw him with all these bright students from the Harvard University Divinity School. With one word, he could have just completely reduced me to a pool of water on the sidewalk. And then, I thought, This is really something. It’s a perfect philosophy and perfect process, he’s the perfect spiritual master, but he’s very kind and compassionate and understanding. I think I already gave myself in, but then, I gave myself even more, I didn’t know there were degrees.

So, I guess he captured us all, and now we’re trying to remember him and serve him and follow him, follow his instructions. And so, we’re all here by his mercy. And I think that if we just stay together, focused on Srila Prabhupada, his instructions, and the holy name, and Krishna, then. . . I was going to say that we’ll all go back home, back to Godhead, but in a way, this is already back home, back to Godhead. If one is in that mood, that consciousness, then it’s jīvo vā māro vā [Unintelligible 01:21:17], you may live or you may die, serving Krishna.

So, tomorrow, of course, we’ll be blessed with the association of HH Sacinandana Swami Maharaja and Madhava Prabhu. And then, those who are going to the sadhu-saṅga retreat, even more treats. So, thank you very much. Hare Krishna. [applause] All right, Maharaja, would you like to add anything?

Devotee: Hare Krishna. Thank you very much, Giriraj Maharaja. [Unintelligible 01:22:26]

Giriraj Swami: Wonderful, wonderful, thank you. [applause] Anyone else like to add some comments or ask a few questions? Alright.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:28:43] Maharaja, the verse that you read talked about how should one smear the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee and also there is a point of how to be in the mood of the servant of the servant, so I am trying to understand that it's also the dust of the lotus feet and service, are they equivalent or. . .

Giriraj Swami: Yes, as Srila Prabhupada says, the first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of the pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement, “Reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee [Unintelligible 01:29:36] of another pure devotee.” So, taking the dust, it means service and surrender. Sometimes the dust is taken as the instructions of the pure devotee. So, to take the dust from the lotus feet means to follow the instructions of the pure devotee. They go together. Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:30:07 How do we benefit from serving a lower person?

Giriraj Swami: How do we get benefit from serving a lower person? That is a very good question, that is a very good question. Because the general rule is that one develops the qualities of the person one is serving. And therefore, in India, in a certain orthodox rigid version of the caste system, one avoids people in the lower caste, so one isn’t contaminated by the association.

I will give two answers. Once, a man came to Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur, our sort of world headquarters of Mahaprabhu, and he complained to Srila Prabhupada that Prabhupada’s disciples were giving better treatment to rich people than to others. And Srila Prabhupada replied by telling a story of a woman whose husband wanted to enjoy with an expensive prostitute, sort of like in older times. The prostitutes, it was sort of like an art. They’d have a very nicely decorated place and the man would cook, they’d have a nice meal, it was a whole evening, and it wouldn’t culminate in that.

So, this one prostitute was extraordinarily beautiful and qualified in every respect, and her husband wanted to spend a night with her, and his wife thought, There’s no way. They were sort of poor people, there was no way. So, she took it upon herself to serve the prostitute, and the prostitute asked her, “Why are you serving me? What do you want?” And she said, “My husband wants to spend a night with you and we can’t afford it.” The prostitute said, “Well, you’ll have to work for quite a while before then, prepare.” So, she did it, and eventually, she had earned enough to enable her husband to have a night with the prostitute.

So, Srila Prabhupada said that you could say that the wife was a fool to serve a prostitute so her husband could enjoy with a prostitute, but she wasn’t actually serving the prostitute, she was serving her husband. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Sometimes a devotee may serve a materialistic person for a higher cause, to please Krishna.” So, when Srila Prabhupada talks about serving low-class people, he really means to serve Krishna by serving them, and serving them means bringing them to Krishna.

In one talk in Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada said that one cannot approach Radha and Krishna without the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, and one cannot get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya without the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Do you know who Lord Nityananda is? And to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, one has to approach people like Jagai and Madhai.

So, I mean, the mercy of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda is extreme to Jagai and Madhai, they were very sinful, and to people like us. I mean, we’re talking about approaching low-class people. Who are we? A few days ago, a few years ago, we were in that category. And that was how I began, that Prabhupada approached people like us, out of his infinite mercy. And now by that process, we’re in a position where on his behalf and Nityananda Prabhu’s behalf, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s behalf, we can also approach people and ask them to chant the holy names and seek their divine command. Does that answer your question? Jagatpurush Prabhu?

Jagatpurush Prabhu: [Unintelligible 01:36:41]. I wanted to share with everyone here a little of my experience. Just to describe another way [Unintelligible 01:37:18], and also undergone so many trials and tribulations. [Unintelligible 01:27:34]. I just wanted to mention that in the ten years that I had a really, really great fortune serving under Giriraj Swami here in the temple, that there was never a time that there was any key diversion or deviation from the constant adherence that I witnessed in your service. And so, we have this wonderful philosophy, this wonderful [Unintelligible 01:38:48] but there is nothing compared to seeing the manifestation of surrender of a pure devotee. [Unintelligible 01:39:02]. [applause]

Giriraj Swami: Thank you. I don’t want to start a competition, but thank you. [laughter]