SB 2.4.18 – Commemorating Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival in America

Giriraj Swami: We are at that time of year that commemorates Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in America which was a very momentous event and the beginning of a tremendous inundation of the world with Krishna consciousness for the first time, at least in recent times, outside of the borders of India. And Srila Prabhupada had the conviction from the very beginning that anyone could take to Krishna consciousness. There was a stricture or rule that a sannyasi or Swami should not go outside the borders of India or should not cross the ocean. And there is a logic to it, that people outside India across the ocean are very fallen and if a sannyasi associates with them he can be contaminated by their association. And, it has happened that over the years saintly persons, sadhus from India, have come and rather than influencing the westerners to adopt a Vedic culture, they themselves have been influenced by western culture.

Srila Prabhupada tells the story that when he first came to New York he met a Swami from the Ramakrishna Mission who told him, “Swamiji now you are in America, you will have to wear a suit and tie, and you’ll have to learn how to eat with knives and forks, sit on furniture. . .” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I have not come to learn these things from the people here, but I have come to teach them to forget all these things.” So, only someone extraordinarily powerful could do what Srila Prabhupada did, or could even imagine doing what Srila Prabhupada did. But this fact that anyone from anywhere in the world from any culture of the world can become a pure devotee of Krishna was recorded in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam thousands of years ago. And so, I thought in order to honor this occasion I would read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that formed the philosophical basis of what Srila Prabhupada did.

So read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Four, Text Eighteen. I will just recite the verse but when we come to the synonyms, we can chant responsively.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 18

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā

ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ

ye ‘nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ

śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

TRANSLATION

Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

COMMENT

Purport by Srila Prabhupada. He begins the purport describing the different names mentioned in the verse.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Kirāta: A province of old Bhārata-varṣa mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva of Mahābhārata. Generally the Kirātas are known as the aboriginal tribes of India.

COMMENT

I will not quote every detail from this portion of the purport for the sake of time.

PURPORT (continued)

Hūṇa: The area of East Germany and part of Russia is known as the province of the Hūṇas.

Āndhra: A province in southern India mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva of Mahābhārata. It is still extant under the same name.

Pulinda: It is mentioned in the Mahābhārata (Ādi-parva 174.38). This country was conquered by Bhīmasena and Sahadeva. The Greeks are known as Pulindas, and it is mentioned in the Vana-parva of Mahābhārata that the non-Vedic race of this part of the world would rule over the world. This Pulinda province was also one of the provinces of Bhārata, and the inhabitants were classified amongst the kṣatriya kings. But later on, due to their giving up the brahminical culture, they were mentioned as mlecchas (just as those who are not followers of the Islamic culture are called kafirs and those who are not followers of the Christian culture are called heathens).

Ābhīra: This name also appears in the Mahābhārata, both in the Sabhā-parva and Bhīṣma-parva. It is mentioned that this province was situated on the River Sarasvatī in Sind. The modern Sind province formerly extended on the other side of the Arabian Sea, and all the inhabitants of that province were known as the Ābhīras. They were under the domination of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, and according to the statements of Mārkaṇḍeya the mlecchas of this part of the world would also rule over Bhārata. Later on this proved to be true, as in the case of the Pulindas. On behalf of the Pulindas, Alexander the Great conquered India, and on behalf of the Ābhīras, Muhammad Ghori conquered India. These Ābhīras were also formerly kṣatriyas within the brahminical culture, but they gave up the connection. The kṣatriyas who were afraid of Paraśurāma and had hidden themselves in the Caucasian hilly regions later on became known as the Ābhīras, and the place they inhabited was known as Ābhīradeśa.

COMMENT

So, I will pause for a moment to make one point here. The verse explains that anyone from any part of the world, any culture of the world, however addicted he or she may be to sinful acts can be delivered by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord because of the Lord’s being all-powerful. Now, from this description of the history of many of these provinces, we find that they were formerly under the Vedic kings and follow the Vedic culture, but because they disregarded their culture, they became fallen and placed in the category of mlechchhas. So, this is a warning to people from the Vedic culture, that just as people from other cultures can become devotees, people from Vedic culture can become mlechchhas by neglect of the Vedic culture. And we see this happening unfortunately, we see this happening very commonly.

I remember one-year Tamal Krishna Goswami and I flew from Delhi to Bombay, and we were sitting in the baggage claim area, and in that whole big flight which was full, there were only, I mean there are probably two hundred or more passengers, maybe one woman wearing a sari, there were maybe a few wearing Punjabis, and the rest were wearing slacks, yeah, jeans, a lot of them were wearing jeans. And Tamal Krishna Goswami, he commented about how the Vedic culture is being lost. And even more recently there was a cover story on Time Magazine and it showed, it was a woman divided in half and the one half showed her with tilak and traditional Indian hair and jewelry and dress, and the other half showed her head uncovered and sitting with a headset, taking a phone call. And the article was about how India is becoming a center for information, technology, and so much is being outsourced to India, and you call any company, any big company, you could end up being talking to someone in India.

And I happened to, maybe Indradyumna Swami was visiting me at that time, and he saw that cover and he was very sad; he said the way things are going in India, what we know of India won’t even exist in a couple of generations.

Devotee: It is already gone.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, and that was one of his main motivations in taking his festival to India because he felt it would be a tremendous loss for the world if India ended up being just like any other country, that whole precious culture and unique contribution that India was meant to make to the world would be lost. So that’s sort of implicit here, that if a non-Vedic person can become Vedic then a Vedic person can become non-Vedic. Anyone can come up but at the same time, anyone can go down.

I am thinking of this one family in Dallas, but in our generation our parents were very upset when we became devotees, because they did not understand it to begin with and they did not like it. And now I mean I am giving this example of one family there, I am sure there are many others, the parents, they are of Indian origin but they were not that spiritual but by association with devotees they become devotees. And their daughters who studied at very top institutions on the east coast and have big needs, lucrative positions in financial institutions on the east coast; they are worried about their parents, that their parents are becoming too involved with Krishna consciousness. It is like everything is reversed, everything’s reversed now. Okay.

PURPORT (continued)

Śumbhas or Kaṅkas: The inhabitants of the Kaṅka province of old Bhārata, mentioned in the Mahābhārata.

Yavanas: Yavana was the name of one of the sons of Mahārāja Yayāti who was given the part of the world known as Turkey to rule. Therefore the Turks are Yavanas due to being descendants of Mahārāja Yavana. The Yavanas were therefore kṣatriyas, and later on, by giving up the brahminical culture, they became mleccha-yavanas. Descriptions of the Yavanas are in the Mahābhārata (Ādi-parva 85.34).

Khasa: The inhabitants of the Khasadeśa are mentioned in the Mahābhārata (Droṇa-parva). Those who have a stunted growth of hair on the upper lip are generally called Khasas. As such, the Khasa are the Mongolians, the Chinese and others who are so designated.

The above-mentioned historical names are different nations of the world. Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible.

COMMENT

What does corrigible mean?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:22:39]?

Giriraj Swami: No, it means they can be corrected, say that there is an unruly child who cannot be corrected then, “Oh, he is incorrigible,” he is hopeless. So corrigible means he can be corrected.

PURPORT (continued)

Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible.

COMMENT

They can be corrected; they can be reformed.

PURPORT (continued)

To the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord.

COMMENT

Now, when Srila Prabhupada arrived in America there were no devotees. So, all this transformation that we have seen in our own lives and in the lives of so many others really came from their taking shelter of Srila Prabhupada. It began from their taking shelter of Srila Prabhupada and then taking shelter of those who took shelter of Srila Prabhupada.

PURPORT (continued)

Jesus Christ and Muhammad, two powerful devotees of the Lord, have done tremendous service on behalf of the Lord on the surface of the globe. And from the version of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī it appears that instead of running a godless civilization in the present context of the world situation, if the leadership of world affairs is entrusted to the devotees of the Lord, for which a worldwide organization under the name and style of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has already been started, then by the grace of the Almighty Lord there can be a thorough change of heart in human beings all over the world because the devotees of the Lord are able authorities to effect such a change by purifying the dust-worn minds of the people in general. The politicians of the world may remain in their respective positions because the pure devotees of the Lord are not interested in political leadership or diplomatic implications. The devotees are interested only in seeing that the people in general are not misguided by political propaganda and that the valuable life of a human being is not spoiled in following a type of civilization which is ultimately doomed. If the politicians, therefore, would be guided by the good counsel of the devotees, then certainly there would be a great change in the world situation by the purifying propaganda of the devotees, as shown by Lord Caitanya.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada had a disciple named Pradyumna who was Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editor and he was very well, he was personally trained by Srila Prabhupada, but he was very learned, and over the years he studied many books by previous acharyas, commentaries by previous acharyas. And when I met him a little while ago, he commented that one thing that was very distinct about Srila Prabhupada was that he related the verses of the scriptures to the world situation and saw them in terms of affecting global change.

Generally, if we read the commentaries of the previous acharyas they will tell us how we can apply the principles of bhakti-yoga to attain spiritual perfection, to attain Goloka Vrindavan, eternal service of Krishna, Radha, and Krishna. But Srila Prabhupada, he had the idea, and of course, it was coming through paramparā, through his Guru Maharaja to some extent, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, but he applied the same principles on a global scale. He envisioned what the world situation would be like if the principles that were generally followed by individual persons or families were followed by the society in general. And he formed the “In God We Trust” party—there should be another party that is different from all these atheistic, well, they are not exactly atheistic but they are not really spiritual either.

In one talk, Srila Prabhupada, because they consider themselves religious but Srila Prabhupada said, “If you do not know who God is and what He wants, then what is the meaning of this so-called religiousness?” So, I mean who really does know who God is or what He wants? Practically no one. And therefore, there is so much chaos in the world, and it seems to be. . . Well, I cannot say worse than ever but it is very bad, I mean all over there is violence eruption, and what is it? ISCS?

Devotee: Islamic state, ISIS.

Giriraj Swami: ISIS, I mean if they could they would expand their dominion over the entire planet and just finish anyone that is not, not only not Muslim, but not their Muslim. And then in Ukraine, and then, yeah, Israel, Gaza. So, but Srila Prabhupada, he was thinking that if on an individual level: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, if our consciousness as individuals can be purified by chanting the holy name, then the same principle would apply on a large scale. That if people, in general, chant the holy names then their consciousness will be purified and they’ll become humans and they won’t fight like cats and dogs.

Srila Prabhupada would comment that because he would go by the United Nations after he arrived in New York and it’s supposed to be uniting the nations, but he said they are actually becoming more disunited—the flags are multiplying. We see it everywhere, that there is one country that has become two and then three, and it’s not you are being united, it’s being disunited, because they are missing the central point, God, and they are identifying with the body. Say Ceylon or Sri Lanka.

Anyway, because I have traveled a lot, I know what happened in so many of these places and how things really got bad. I will just give the example of Sri Lanka. I met so many old people there who said that that island was like a paradise. There is a science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, who chose to live there, it was such a nice place. And there really was not any problem between the Tamils and Sinhalese, because the medium of education in the schools was English, so they were all united in classrooms.

So, I do not remember the details of the political parties and who the leaders were, but obviously, it happened in one election, one party won and the other lost, and then the party who lost thought, We should run on a platform to make Sinhalese the national language. They were appealing to that sort of bodily identification. And then the next time around they won because the majority were Sinhalese. “Yeah, we should have Sinhalese as our national language.” And then the Tamils naturally reacted, “Well, we don’t want our children going to school and learning Sinhalese language, we want them to learn our language, Tamil language.” So, then the whole country became divided, the Sinhalese schools and the Tamil schools, instead of going to school together they were separated and developed prejudices against each other, it just went on and on.

So, this basic fact that we are not the body, the first lesson of the Bhagavad-gītā, that we are not the body, we are the ātmā, the soul within the body. Just that understanding alone will revolutionize the lives of people and the whole atmosphere. As His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami said, that the basic philosophy of Krishna consciousness, you are not the body, you are the soul which is eternal. Things we have heard a hundred and a thousand times, or ten thousand times or a hundred thousand times, things that we have heard so often, I have heard this before, we could sleep through it when we hear it. He said, “Those basic points are so revolutionary to ordinary people that it can totally transform their lives and the world’s climate.” So, these are really very powerful points.

PURPORT (continued)

As Śukadeva Gosvāmī began his prayer by discussing the word yat-kīrtanam.

COMMENT

That’s earlier in the same section.

PURPORT (continued)

So also Lord Caitanya recommended that simply by glorifying the Lord’s holy name, a tremendous change of heart can take place by which the complete misunderstanding between the human nations created by politicians can at once be extinguished. And after the extinction of the fire of misunderstanding, other profits will follow.

COMMENT

So that is the first ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, the consciousness is cleansed, bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ, the blazing fire of material existence is extinguished. And then there are so many benefits, seven benefits, but beginning with just extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence, the whole situation will change, and then the other benefits ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, increasing the ocean of nectar that we are all hankering for, those follow.

PURPORT (continued)

And after the extinction of the fire of misunderstanding, other profits will follow. The destination is to go back home, back to Godhead, as we have several times discussed in these pages.

According to the cult of devotion, generally known as the Vaiṣṇava cult, there is no bar against anyone’s advancing in the matter of God realization. A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn into a Vaiṣṇava even the Kirāta, etc., as above mentioned.

COMMENT

And who showed this practically? Srila Prabhupada.

PURPORT (continued)

A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn into a Vaiṣṇava even the Kirāta, etc., as above mentioned. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) it is said by the Lord that there is no bar to becoming a devotee of the Lord (even for those who are lowborn, or women, śūdras or vaiśyas), and by becoming a devotee everyone is eligible to return home, back to Godhead. The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam).

COMMENT

So, the only qualification is to take shelter of a pure devotee. Once when Tamal Krishna Goswami and I were serving in Bombay during Srila Prabhupada’s presence, Tamal Krishna Goswami decided to have a hernia operation at Jaslok Hospital which was the best hospital in Bombay at the time, it was new and it was opened by a good friend of ours, a very charitable man. But when Srila Prabhupada heard about it, he wanted to stop the operation because he did not trust the medical treatment in India; he wanted Tamal Krishna Goswami to have the operation in America. And at that time, it was different, at that time it was very hard even to get a telephone in India, and then if you got it, it was not guaranteed that it would work, that the lines would work. So, Srila Prabhupada could not get through to the hospital to tell Tamal Krishna Goswami not to have the operation, so he decided to drive all the way from Juhu to central Bombay. And at that time, yeah, for a long time we didn’t have any vehicles of our own, but at that time we had a Mahendra jeep, which was the old kind, the side was open, there was no doors, and it had a canvas, and Prabhupada got in this jeep to drive down to the hospital.

But when he got there it was too late, the surgery had been performed and Tamal Krishna Goswami was being wheeled out of the operation theatre, the recovery room, and he was just coming to consciousness from being under anesthesia. And he opened his eyes and saw Srila Prabhupada, and he said, “Srila Prabhupada, I just was dreaming about you and in the dream, you were giving a report to the previous acharyas: what is the situation on earth, how is the mission going on earth.” And as Tamal Krishna Goswami told Srila Prabhupada that, “You were telling them that the people on the planet earth now have no good qualities, they have no pious background, they have no knowledge of Vedic culture, they have no interest in spiritual development. All in all, they have no qualifications for spiritual life at all. But they do have one qualification and that is that they have faith in me and whatever I tell them they do, and that qualification alone is enough to bring them to Krishna consciousness.” Yeah, and then Tamal Krishna Goswami looked towards Srila Prabhupada like it was a dream, he said, “Is it true?” And Prabhupada nodded, “Yes, it is true.”

So that is stated here.

PURPORT (continued)

The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam). Anyone from any part of the world who becomes. . .

COMMENT

Now, listen to this, this is going a step further, listen to this carefully.

PURPORT (continued)

Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart. Though a person be even the most sinful man, he can at once be purified by systematic contact with a pure Vaiṣṇava.

COMMENT

So, it is the same idea, that beautiful phrase that Śukadeva Gosvami uses, apāśraya-āśrayāḥ, taking shelter of the devotees, in other words, taking shelter of those who have taken shelter. And so, anyone from any part of the world however sinful he may be can be purified by taking shelter of a pure devotee who is well conversant with the science of Krishna. And then Prabhupada says anyone from any part of the world who takes shelter of a pure devotee of Krishna and learns the science from him can in turn become a spiritual master and give shelter to others from any part of the world. And we see that this is also going on, and thus the paramparā is continuing and people are becoming purified and making advancement.

Now, we may take some of these things for granted but when Srila Prabhupada was prosecuting the Krishna consciousness movement, he had many enemies; he faced much opposition from people who felt that you cannot become, say, a brahman unless you are born in a brahman family. We had this discussion with one of our hosts in Madras, and his idea was that to be considered a brahman you must take birth in a brahman family. He admitted that we are Vaishnavas and that Vaishnavas are better than brahmans but we are not brahmans, to become brahmans we must take birth in brahman families. So, that means that if this were true or if this idea prevailed, practically none of us would be able to worship the Deity because we are not born in brahman families and that would be a great loss for us personally and to the movement.

So, at that time four of us had come to Madras and we were staying with this person, and one of them was Achyutananda Swami, Achyutananda Swami said to our host that, “What is more powerful, the holy name of Krishna or sinful reactions?” So, he had to admit that the holy name was more powerful, because all the scriptures say that you can be free from sinful reactions by taking shelter of the holy name. So, then he said, “And how is someone born as a brahman or a kshatriya, vaishya, or sudra, or none of those even? It is by their past pious or sinful activities. So, the holy name is more powerful than sinful reactions, that means it can eradicate the effects of sinful reactions which can for example include being born in a ‘lower’ family.” And he could not say anything, he could not say anything. But still, he went on and on and on, especially in South India.

Some brahmans came to meet Srila Prabhupada in Hyderabad, Andhra, “You are doing the greatest disservice to the Hindu religion by making these foreigners brahmans and sannyasis, what to speak.”

But Prabhupada, he was relentless, he was not trying to win a popularity contest. I mean yeah, he was the most popular with Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but not with the people of the world. Of course, he tried to attract them but the world is such that there are going to be people who rebel against pure devotional service, Krishna consciousness. So yeah, but so in that way sometimes Prabhupada could be very gracious and pleasing. Again, some brahmans in South India, they complained to Prabhupada that, “Your disciples don’t pronounce Sanskrit properly.” Prabhupada said, “That’s why we have brought them to you so they can learn from you how to pronounce properly.” So according to the situation he would deal, but he would not compromise, that was the basic point, and because of that we are here today.

PURPORT (continued)

Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart. Though a person be even the most sinful man, he can at once be purified by systematic contact with a pure Vaiṣṇava.

COMMENT

Systematic contact, that’s ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ, regular association with devotees.

PURPORT (continued)

A Vaiṣṇava, therefore, can accept a bona fide disciple from any part of the world without any consideration of caste and creed and promote him by regulative principles to the status of a pure Vaiṣṇava, who is transcendental to brahminical culture. The system of caste, or varṇāśrama-dharma, is no longer regular even amongst the so-called followers of the system.

COMMENT

In other words, the brahmans, not just brahmans, everyone, brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas, even the sudras are not proper sudras. So, the varnashrama system is not regular even among the followers of the system. So, what is the point of claiming we are brahmans and you can’t be brahmans? In 1977, I think, Prabhupada was in Juhu and it might have been Jayaprakash Narayana, anyway, he had a big gathering sort of like Gandhi used to do, lakhs and lakhs of people. The idea was that the brahmans, it was also sort of a political maneuver to obliterate the exploitation of the lower classes by the brahmans. So he had this huge meeting, and then the brahmans came forward and they were taking off their sacred threads and putting it in a fire, a bonfire, something like what Gandhi would do. So, when Prabhupada heard this, he said, “Good, they are admitting they are all sudras.”

PURPORT (continued)

The system of caste, or varṇāśrama-dharma, is no longer regular even amongst the so-called followers of the system. Nor is it now possible to reestablish the institutional function in the present context of social, political and economic revolution. Without any reference to the particular custom of a country, one can be accepted to the Vaiṣṇava cult spiritually, and there is no hindrance in the transcendental process. So by the order of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the cult of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Bhagavad-gītā can be preached all over the world, reclaiming all persons willing to accept the transcendental cult. Such cultural propaganda by the devotees will certainly be accepted by all persons who are reasonable and inquisitive.

COMMENT

In other words, any impartial, sane, inquisitive person.

PURPORT (continued)

Without any particular bias for the custom of the country. The Vaiṣṇava never accepts another Vaiṣṇava on the basis of birthright, just as he never thinks of the Deity of the Lord in a temple as an idol. And to remove all doubts in this connection, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has invoked the blessings of the Lord, who is all-powerful (prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ). As the all-powerful Lord accepts the humble service of His devotee in devotional activities of the arcana, His form as the worshipable Deity in the temple, similarly the body of a pure Vaiṣṇava changes transcendentally at once when he gives himself up to the service of the Lord and is trained by a qualified Vaiṣṇava.

COMMENT

There are many statements to this, dīkṣā-kāle, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tells Sanatana Gosvami: dīkṣā-kāle, at the time of initiation Krishna accepts the devotee to be as good as Himself and his body is transformed, it’s no longer considered the same. And so therefore, I mean these designations do not apply to a Vaishnava, that is a very important point, very important point.

PURPORT (continued)

The injunction of Vaiṣṇava regulation in this connection runs as follows: arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ śrī-viṣṇor nāmni śabda-sāmānya-buddhiḥ, etc. “One should not consider the Deity of the Lord as worshiped in the temple to be an idol.

COMMENT

I mean you look at it, it is stone, it is metal, but it is not, because the Lord is all-powerful, He makes it spiritual or it becomes a manifestation of the Lord Himself.

PURPORT (continued)

Nor should one consider the authorized spiritual master an ordinary man.

COMMENT

They are the same thing, he is an ordinary man, he is a man like you and me, he sleeps, he wakes up, he uses the toilet, he does everything we do, he is just an ordinary person, he is a human being like the rest of us. But no, there is a difference, and yeah, so one should avoid seeing the spiritual master in terms of the common bodily functions that are shared by all human beings and even other species, but one should see how he is serving Krishna, preaching.

PURPORT (continued)

“One should not consider the Deity of the Lord as worshiped in the temple to be an idol, nor should one consider the authorized spiritual master an ordinary man. Nor should one consider a pure Vaiṣṇava to belong to a particular caste, etc.” (Padma Purāṇa)

The conclusion is that the Lord, being all-powerful, can, under any and every circumstance, accept anyone from any part of the world, either personally or through His bona fide manifestation as the spiritual master. Lord Caitanya accepted many devotees from communities other than the varṇāśramites, and He Himself declared, to teach us, that He does not belong to any caste or social order of life, but that He is the eternal servant of the servant of the Lord who maintains the damsels of Vṛndāvana (Lord Kṛṣṇa).

COMMENT

So, who could paraphrase what I just read? How Lord Chaitanya presented Himself? And if by chance anyone knows the Sanskrit or even a few words of the Sanskrit because it is a very important principle and a very important verse.

Devotee: Jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa.

Giriraj Swami: Well, that is the essence, that is true, that is the essence.

Devotee: Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.

Giriraj Swami: That’s the process. I will just read it again.

PURPORT (continued)

He Himself declared, to teach us, that He does not belong to any caste or social order of life.

COMMENT

Nāhaṁ vipra—I’m not a brahman, I’m not a kshatriya, I’m not a vaishya, I’m not a sudra, I’m not a brahmachari, I’m not grihastha, I’m not a vanaprastha, I’m not a sannyasi. But that He is the eternal servant of the servant of the Lord who maintains the damsels of Vrindavan—gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. And, much of this purport and much of Srila Prabhupada’s writings are verses paraphrased, in other words, Prabhupada thought in terms of verses, but he had such deep realization that it sounded as if he was just speaking from his own realization. So many times he would say things and then later as I read more I would say, “Oh, that’s exactly what Srila Prabhupada said.”

PURPORT (continued)

That is the way of self-realization.

COMMENT

So, to be self-realized we must give up all these false designations and accept our true identity as the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna. And by being connected with that line of servants, paramparā, we realize who we are and can taste the true nectar of Krishna consciousness.

Hare Krishna.

Yes, please.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:02:15] many years, you mentioned one little girl one time in India and it was [Unintelligible 01:02:24] and then making that reference that little girl [Unintelligible 01:02:36].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Devotee: I think that was very sweet [Unintelligible 01:02:42] if you analyze that thing [Unintelligible 01:02:45].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, okay. So, in Madras, the chief justice of the high court arranged a program on the grounds and that was attended by other high court judges and high court advocates. And then afterwards he invited Srila Prabhupada to his home, Prabhupada and his disciples to his home for prasāda. And so Prabhupada was sitting on a chair and the disciples were sitting on the floor, and the chief justice gave Prabhupada a little silver Krishna. And in the program, the pandal program, Srila Prabhupada had spoken about the Six Gosvamis, how they had left their lucrative positions and aristocratic positions and joined the movement of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And indirectly he was, well, directly or indirectly he was calling upon these leaders of society, mandala pati, these big high court justices and advocates to join the movement of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, then at the chief justice’s home, he picked up that theme of the Six Gosvamis from the Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka, prayers to the Six Gosvamis.

So, he held this little silver Krishna statue, so all the disciples, were pretty much in our early twenties, maybe one or two a little older. So, one of the older couples, they had a little daughter named Sarasvati and she was maybe four years old. And so Prabhupada held this little Krishna in front of her and she was at that age she was looking at it and really sort of captivated, and then he moved the statue away and then he hid it behind his back, and she did not know where it went. And Srila Prabhupada said, oh no, he didn’t at first, he didn’t even have to say anything because she was looking, and Prabhupada said, “Where is Krishna?” And she was looking, and she was looking here and there, looking amongst the disciples, and she could not find. Yeah, and she was filled with so much anxiety and that is really the mood we must develop, we must have so much anxiety for Krishna, “Where is Krishna?” And that was the mood of the Six Gosvamis. And then, she could not find the deity and maybe sort of gave up or half gave up hope.

And then Prabhupada again said, “Sarasvati, where is Krishna?” Again, that anxiety, “where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?” Then Sarasvati’s mother, Malati, gave her a hint and said, “Sarasvati, who has Krishna?” And then immediately Sarasvati’s face brightened and her eyes opened wide and she said, “Prabhupada has Krishna.” And then she ran forward to Prabhupada and Prabhupada took out the deity of Krishna from behind his back and placed it in front of Sarasvati.

It was a very profound demonstration of an essential spiritual truth, that when we have that anxiety to see Krishna, Krishna will reveal Himself. “See” means not for our sense gratification but “See” so that we can render service. And also, that like Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings that, “Oh, he, Vaishnava Thakura,”—we are talking about taking shelter of Vaishnavas – “Oh, he, Vaishnava Thakura.” That you have Krishna, and you have the power to deliver Him to me, and therefore, I’m running behind you shouting Krishna, Krishna.”

So yes, it is a beautiful story and it is also very relevant. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?