CC Adi 7.23 – Sri Gaura-purnima

Giriraj Swami: 

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

So, we welcome you on the auspicious occasion of Sri Gaura-purnima, the appearance day of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna Chaitanya. We shall read from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Seven, “Lord Chaitanya in Five Features,” Text Twenty and Twenty-One.

TEXTS 20–21

sei pañca-tattva mili’ pṛthivī āsiyā
pūrva-premabhāṇḍārera mudrā ughāḍiyā

pāṅce mili’ luṭe prema, kare āsvādana
yata yata piye, tṛṣṇā bāḍhe anukṣaṇa

TRANSLATION

The characteristics of Kṛṣṇa are understood to be a storehouse of transcendental love. Although that storehouse of love certainly came with Kṛṣṇa when He was present, it was sealed. But when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came with His associates of the Pañca-tattva, they broke the seal and plundered the storehouse to taste transcendental love of Kṛṣṇa. The more they tasted it, the more their thirst for it grew.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is called mahā-vadānyāvatāra because although He is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, He is even more favorably disposed to the poor fallen souls than Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself was personally present, He demanded that everyone surrender unto Him and promised that He would then give one all protection, but when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to this earth with His associates, He simply distributed transcendental love of God without discrimination. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, therefore, could understand that Lord Caitanya was none other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, for no one but the Supreme Personality of Godhead can distribute confidential love of the Supreme Person.

COMMENT

Srila Rupa Gosvami is the principle of the Six Gosvamis. Of course, all of the Six Gosvamis are confidential associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but Rupa Gosvami in particular understood the mind, the mood, and mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore, devotees pray to Srila Rupa Gosvami, śrī-caitanya-mano-’bhīṣṭaṁ, that he understood the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale, His mission on earth, what He wanted to establish on earth, svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam, when will Srila Rupa Gosvami be merciful to me? Because it is by the mercy of Rupa Gosvami that we can understand the confidential moods of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

So, Rupa Gosvami addressed Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, namo mahā-vadānyāya, “You are the most munificent incarnation of Godhead.” Why? Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te, “Because you are giving kṛṣṇa-prema.” Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa, “You are Krishna Himself, because no one other than Krishna can give pure love for Krishna.” Gaura-tviṣe namaḥ, “You don’t have the blackish complexion of Krishna, but You have a golden complexion.”

So, Rupa Gosvami understood this mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, mahā-vadānyāya avatar. And Srila Prabhupada said that the devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement, which is the saṅkīrtana movement begun by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Pancha-tattva, that they should have that same mood as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and be very munificent in the distribution of kṛṣṇa-prema.

Now, Rupa Gosvami says and Krishnadasa Kaviraj Gosvami says that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu delivered love for Krishna. But He delivered love for Krishna, of course, in some cases, those who had His personal association were given love for Krishna directly, but in general, He gives the process by which we can develop love for Krishna through the chanting of the holy names.

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

Once, when Srila Prabhupada was staying at a Rama mandir in Chembur before we got our own place in Bombay, one gentleman came to see him and he was crying, “Oh, Swamiji, oh, Swamiji, only you can save me, only you can save me, please save me.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I cannot save you, only you can save yourself. But I can give you the process by which you can save yourself.” And that is the process given by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of chanting the holy names, and in general, following the process of bhakti-yoga.

And in the chanting of the holy names, there are some guidelines for us. Of course, in the beginning, a new person will chant, he may not even know what he is chanting, and he will get benefit.

Srila Rupa Gosvami has explained the progression in bhakti-yoga, ādau śraddhā, that first, there must be some initial faith and attraction, and that may come through a preliminary contact with devotees. ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ, then one will begin to regularly, systematically associate with devotees. And being attracted by the qualities of the devotees, one will think, I also want to be like them, I also want to dedicate my life to Krishna consciousness.

And then ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ atha bhajana-kriyā, then one takes up the practices of bhakti-yoga: rising early in the morning, if one is able, attend maṅgala-ārati, chant the holy names, hear the discussion of scripture, worship the Deity, witnessing the worship of the Deity also counts as worshiping the Deity, and living in the temple or in some holy place of Krishna. One takes up the full practice, and thus, gradually, one progresses towards the ultimate goal of kṛṣṇa-prema, pure love for Krishna. But one must make one’s effort and follow the process.

Srila Prabhupada has given two examples. Actually, the examples are there in other traditions as well, of two conceptions of spiritual progress. One example is of the kitten and the cat, and the other is of the mother monkey and the baby monkey, and these two processes are called the ascending process and descending process.

So, in the descending process, one makes one’s efforts, but ultimately, one depends on the mercy of the Lord and the devotees, not on his own strength. And that is compared to the cat and the kitten, the cat will pick up the kitten and carry the kitten where the cat wants it to be, some better place for the kitten. And the monkeys, the baby monkeys, they hold on to the back of the mother and they are depending on their own strength.

I actually saw it vividly in the Johannesburg Zoo, that these little monkeys were jumping on the backs of their mothers and holding on, but they were really little and their arms and hands were not very strong, and the mothers were way up in the trees, jumping from one tree to another, and these little baby monkeys were holding up for dear life. And it’s possible that they could lose their grip, fall down, and die, or be seriously injured.

So generally, we recommend and follow the descending process, that we do our duty to follow the instructions, but at the same time, we pray for mercy because we know ultimately, we depend on mercy and we cannot make any progress on our own, without mercy.

And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu, and all the members of the Pancha-tattva, are extremely merciful. So, we have come to the right place to get mercy, but we have to be in the proper mood to receive mercy, we have to be humble, in other words. When we are humble, we realize that we need mercy, that we cannot survive without mercy, and therefore, we are eager to get it by doing things to please the person who can give us that mercy and by earnestly and ardently praying for that mercy.

But if we are not humble, if we are proud, we’ll think, I’m already doing very well. We may pray for mercy like a rich man who thinks, I have so much money, I don’t even know what to do with it. But still, he wants more, so he prays for more, he is not very desperate, in fact, he is more proud and complacent. But a humble devotee will earnestly and ardently pray for mercy feeling that he or she has nothing, nothing but anarthas and aparādha, nothing but contamination. And therefore, they pray for the Lord’s mercy, the Pancha-tattva’s mercy, for the mercy to cleanse their hearts of all the dirty things and engage them in the saṅkīrtana movement.

And that is achieved by that combination of our efforts and the Lord’s mercy, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, the chanting of the holy name purifies the consciousness. So, we should be very eager for that mercy, and we should do whatever we can to please that merciful personality, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is also represented by Sri Nityananda Prabhu and all of our acharyas, and especially, Srila Prabhupada. We should do whatever we can to please them, and basically, two things please them: one is when we taste Krishna consciousness, and the other is when we distribute Krishna consciousness.

So, tasting Krishna consciousness comes by chanting and hearing without offense, and distributing Krishna consciousness comes by cooperative effort, the saṅkīrtana movement. San means complete, and kirtan means glorification. Glorification is complete when many people join together.

So, to really preach, to really spread the saṅkīrtana movement, we must cooperate, and that cooperation is so important. It was one of Srila Prabhupada’s main instructions to us. He said, “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate.” But cooperation, it sounds like an easy thing, but actually, it’s not so easy, because of our false egos. On one level, false ego means identifying with the body or the mind, and being in the bodily concept. I mean, of course, we may have some theoretical knowledge that we are not the body, but we still may identify with the body.

Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if he is traveling and he meets an Indian, of course, he is speaking for us but he meets an Indian, “Oh, you are from India?” “I’m also from India.” “What part are you from? Oh, you are from Bengal? Oh, I’m also from Bengal. What part of Bengal?” “Oh, you are also from Calcutta, I am also from Calcutta, what part of Calcutta?”

And he said we get very happy when we meet someone of our own kind. But it’s natural, there is no harm in that, but a pure devotee on the spiritual platform, he sees everyone as his own, from his own place, because everyone comes from Krishna, everyone is part and parcel of Krishna, and we are also part and parcel of Krishna. And so, we are the same, not based on bodily commonness, but based on spiritual commonness.

So, one division of false ego is, “I’m this body and everything associated with this body is mine; my friends, my enemies, my wife, my husband, my children, my parents, my money, my house, my car, my intelligence, my good looks, my charms, it’s all mine.”

Now, this conception or this absorption in, “I” and, “Mine” causes us to commit offenses. The chanting of the holy name and all of the five principal items of devotional service are very powerful. Rupa Gosvami says that it is very difficult to conceive of the power of these five items because by even a slight association with any of the five, one will awaken ecstatic love of Godhead.

But there is a condition, and that’s why we may superficially associate with these processes, day in and day out, for hours every day, but still not awaken our dormant love of Godhead. So, why? The answer is because we commit offenses. So, the underlying basis of the offenses is the false ego, the false identification with the body and mind, and the concomitant psychology of wanting to be the controller, wanting to be the possessor, wanting to be the enjoyer. In other words, ultimately wanting to be God, wanting to take the place of Krishna, which is very offensive.

And in the list of ten offenses against the holy name, the last one is to be absorbed in that consciousness, ahaṁ mameti, and thinking oneself supreme. One devotee gave the example that if you twirl around very quickly in kirtan or somehow or other, but if you twirl around very quickly and stop, you become dizzy, and it looks like everything is twirling around you. So, that is our condition, we think we are the center and everything is revolving around us, but actually, Krishna is the center.

One very nice devotee from Russia named His Holiness Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaja, said they have a saying in Russian, it’s sort of a joke they have. It’s a serious joke, but in the joke, one friend says to the other, “I just figured out that God exists.” Because for many decades, the official Russian policy was atheism, there is no God. He said, “I figured out that God exists.” And his friend says, “You did? How did you figure it out?” And he said, “Because nothing ever goes my way, so if it doesn’t go my way, it must be going someone else’s way, and that person is God.”

And that’s true, we are all frustrated because things don’t go our way. I mean, something might go our way to some extent for some time, but there are always so many things that don’t go our way, we don’t like it, we become frustrated and angry because we want to be the center, we want everything to go our way. But actually, we are not the center, Krishna is the center, and things go His way, and we can either cooperate and be part of it or rebel. And when we rebel, we come into material bondage.

Just like in the state, everyone has to serve the government. Those who follow the laws voluntarily, they are free, they are called free, but those who rebel against the government and break the laws of the government get arrested and put in prison, and there they follow the laws of the government by force. So, being free means that you follow the laws of God voluntarily, and being bound or conditioned means that you follow by force, being punished by the laws of nature. And everyone is punished to some degree or other until they surrender to Krishna and take up the process that He has given us to achieve Him, which is bhakti-yoga.

So, I’ll read the next verse, which is relevant to the Hare Krishna movement, and I’m happy to say that the devotees this morning were exemplifying this verse.

TEXT 22

punaḥ punaḥ piyāiyā haya mahāmatta
nāce, kānde, hāse, gāya, yaiche mada-matta

TRANSLATION

Śrī Pañca-tattva themselves danced again and again and thus made it easier to drink nectarean love of Godhead. They danced, cried, laughed and chanted like madmen, and in this way they distributed love of Godhead.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

People generally cannot understand the actual meaning of chanting and dancing. Describing the Gosvāmīs, Śrī Śrīnivāsa Ācārya stated, kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau: not only did Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His associates demonstrate this chanting and dancing, but the six Gosvāmīs also followed in the next generation. The present Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement follows the same principle, and therefore simply by chanting and dancing we have received good responses all over the world. It is to be understood, however, that this chanting and dancing do not belong to this material world. They are actually transcendental activities, for the more one engages in chanting and dancing, the more he can taste the nectar of transcendental love of Godhead.

COMMENT

Yes, actually, when Srila Prabhupada first came to Hare Krishna Land after entering into the agreement to purchase the land from Mr. Nair, the land was actually in the name of Mrs. Nair, so when Srila Prabhupada was leaving, we had arranged a VIP lounge for Srila Prabhupada, and inside the lounge, Madhudvisa led a very ecstatic kirtan, and the devotees were really dancing wildly right in the airport in Srila Prabhupada’s presence. And afterwards, Srila Prabhupada commented, “If you go on having kirtan like this, our project will be a success.” So, chanting and dancing is a very important part of our process.

TEXT 24

luṭiyā, khāiyā, diyā, bhāṇḍāra ujāḍe
āścarya bhāṇḍāra, prema śata-guṇa bāḍe

TRANSLATION

Although the members of the Pañca-tattva plundered the storehouse of love of Godhead and ate and distributed its contents, there was no scarcity, for this wonderful storehouse is so complete that as the love is distributed, the supply increases hundreds of times.

COMMENT

īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

The Supreme Lord is perfect and complete, and although so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance. Or as Srila Prabhupada gave the example, transcendental mathematics, one plus one equals one; if you add everything to the one Krishna, it remains Krishna. And one minus one equals one; even if you take everything away from Krishna, Krishna remains complete. Of course, we also have our devotional mathematics in the saṅkīrtana movement, that one plus one makes eleven because by combining together in the saṅkīrtana movement, our contribution is multiplied.

Srila Prabhupada gave the example of one pseudo guru, and this is told in one book, that he touched his disciple, and by his touch, his knowledge entered into that disciple. So, when the disciple opened his eyes, he saw that his so-called guru was weeping. So, he asked him, “Why are you weeping?” He replied, “Because now I have given all of my knowledge to you and I don’t have any left.” So, this is a completely material concept. If I have a hundred rupees and I give you a hundred rupees, then I have no rupees left, that’s material.

But what the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is saying here is that if I give you a hundred rupees of love of Godhead, my stock increases and I have a hundred thousand rupees of love of Godhead, it increases. The more we distribute, the more we get, and therefore, preaching or sharing Krishna consciousness with others is the best way for us to become Krishna conscious.

Because first of all, we please the Pancha-tattva, the guru-paramparā, and by their blessings, we make advancement. But it is also the nature of bhakti, it is the nature of love of Godhead that the more we give, the more we get. In order to do that, we have to be completely free from envy.

In Text 23, Krishna Dasa Kaviraj Gosvami says:

In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the Pañca-tattva distributed love of Godhead.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada followed that principle and he distributed Krishna consciousness everywhere throughout the world, and he accepted as candidates, people from all parts of the world, all casts, and communities, and creeds, and elevated them to the positions of servants of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga. So, we also should not make any conditions. In other words, we should be free from envy.

One of the obstacles to devotional service is jīva-hiṁsā, which means to do violence to others or to envy them. Srila Prabhupada says to stop the preaching of Krishna consciousness is a manifestation of jīva-hiṁsā, of violence to others or envy of others. So, we should welcome everyone and encourage everyone without discrimination, without pride, without envy, without madness, and then we will be able to truly chant and dance in ecstasy.

So, we have come here to the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, and Srila Prabhupada, so we should accept the mercy that they have come to give, and share the same mercy with others.

So, we still have some time, but I thought to stop now and see if any of you have any questions or comments, because by discussion, things become more clear.

And one other thing about this process. Once, one devotee, Tamal Krishna Goswami, was very busy in Prabhupada’s service. Srila Prabhupada kept us very busy, still, he keeps us busy, and Tamal Krishna Goswami complained to him that he didn’t have time to read, but Srila Prabhupada encouraged him, “If you speak for fifteen minutes, it is equal to reading for two hours.” So, it is so beneficial to speak about Krishna to others. So yes, we’ll stop now and see if you have any questions. Hare Krishna.

Yes?

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. I ask a question about cooperation. Some godbrothers have self-alienated from the authorities in ISKCON, and they say the authorities ask us to cooperate with them, but cooperation is a two-way street and they need to see that sometimes their way is not the only way. They should cooperate with us, but they don’t.

Giriraj Swami: So, what is the question? Well, he is making the point about what does it mean to cooperate. Devotees in a superior position may take it that cooperate means, “You have to do what I say.” Actually, once, I mean, Srila Prabhupada often used that phrase, he would address the Indians and ask them to kindly cooperate with this movement, or even with some big man he would say, “Kindly cooperate with this movement.”

So, once, he used that word with a very big man, and after the man left the room, I asked Srila Prabhupada, “What does that mean, cooperate?” Prabhupada said, “It means that they do what I say.”

But there is a point, and that is, as I wrote in relation to one incident between Malati dasi and Srila Prabhupada. I won’t repeat it now, but Prabhupada himself said of her, “She would do anything for me, she would be prepared to slit her throat for me, and I would do the same for her.” So, I think that’s the idea, that the relationship should be reciprocal.

And one of my favorite quotations that Srila Prabhupada wrote in one letter, and obviously the disciple must have written him that he is dependent on Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, so Srila Prabhupada wrote back, “You are dependent on my mercy, and I am dependent on your mercy. It is reciprocal. This mutual dependence is based on love—Krishna consciousness.” So, it is.

And recently in Vrindavan, a very special devotee of Srila Prabhupada. . . He never took initiation because, well, he was an extremely busy person and he couldn’t chant sixteen rounds. I mean, he asked Srila Prabhupada, explained his schedule, how the whole day was spent, and he said, “I can only chant eight rounds, can you initiate me?” And Prabhupada said, “No.” But he was always traveling, always traveling, even now, he is almost seventy years old, still, always traveling, always traveling. So, Srila Prabhupada said, “No, but if you ever do get initiated, I’ll give you the name Narada Muni dasa.”

So, anyway this person, Peter Burwash, told us that one day, Srila Prabhupada spent three hours with him, which is almost unprecedented, and the whole time, Prabhupada was giving him instructions on how to do his business. He was just a young man; he had just started his business at twenty-five years old.

He had been a tennis champion, so he began a business of teaching tennis. It became a huge operation. And Prabhupada gave him certain principles, and he has followed those principles up till now. And he said at the time he began his business, there were seventeen franchises doing that type of business, and all the other sixteen have folded, this is the only one left.

But one of the points that Srila Prabhupada made to him was about loyalty, that you should be very loyal to your employees and keep them loyal to you. And he said he has people who've been in his organization for forty years, thirty-five years, forty years, that once they join, they don’t want to leave because he has many good qualities, but he is loyal to them, and they become loyal to him. So, that should be there, that reciprocal mood.

Another principle that Prabhupada gave him was never compromise your moral standards, and he followed that too. As his organization spread throughout the world, he ended up having a relatively small operation in Japan. They were making 35,000 dollars a year, it was a while ago, it was something.

But there was another operation there called US Tennis School, and US Tennis School offered him one million dollars a year for ten years if he would join them, that’s a lot, ten million dollars. And he thought about it, it was a good offer, from the business point of view it was a fantastic offer, but in the end, he had to refuse because in their organization, the tennis instructors, in general, they smoked and it was against his principles, which he got from Srila Prabhupada.

In his organization, there is no smoking, no drinking, maybe no meat eating, 24–7. And when he told Prabhupada his company’s policy, Prabhupada said, “You are stricter than our temple,” because when anyone comes to work here, there is no smoking, no drinking, but when they go home, I don’t know, we may or may not consider that.

So, loyalty, that’s a very important point. And many of his workers have become devotees just because they are attracted to him and they like him. Hare Krishna.

There is another question here.

Devotee: In case a devotee gets more attracted to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu than Lord Krishna, what is his destination?

Giriraj Swami: Well, he is asking what is the destination of a person who becomes more attached and attracted to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu than to Lord Krishna. Well, it also depends on his other attachments. I might be more attracted to Gaura-Nitai than Radha-Rasabihari, but in my total quantum of attachment, it’s 0.1 percent of my life, and the other 99.9 percent, I’m attached to my house and my car and my rasagullās.

But if you are referring to a pure devotee who has no material attachment and he has more attachment for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu than for Krishna, then after leaving his body, he can go to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and join Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. But within Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes is chanting the name of Krishna during the pastimes of Krishna.

So, it’s possible that after joining Mahaprabhu līlā, his attraction to Krishna could increase. And at that stage, he can be in both līlās; gaura-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā. Just like Six Gosvamis, they have their identity in gaura-līlā, and their identities in kṛṣṇa-līlā.

And when a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “How is that possible that we can be in both?” Srila Prabhupada said that the potency of the liberated soul is inconceivable, we can’t conceive how we could be at two places at the same time, but when we are liberated, it’s possible that we could be in both gaura-līlā and kṛṣṇa-līlā.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:03:54].

Giriraj Swami: Well, anyone who wants to serve Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada can do so without initiation. I mean, there are some things that you need to do to be initiated, but you don’t have to be initiated to serve. Peter Burwash is not initiated, but he does tremendous service. What I quoted, Prabhupada spent three hours with him telling him how to do his business, but he chants, he speaks about Krishna, makes devotees.

In the beginning, Srila Prabhupada was quite liberal, but later, he commented that in the beginning, we were liberal for the sake of working, because he had no one, he needed to engage people. He said so in the beginning, they were very lenient for the sake of working, but now we should be more careful.

And in fact, yesterday, I was having a discussion about initiation with one of my godbrothers, because I had recently heard that he did initiation somewhere after going there and having aspiring disciples for ten years. I said that I was very impressed that he waited so long, and he said that he likes to wait a long time to test the candidates to see if their faith will remain steady. Sometimes they fall away into maya or sometimes they don’t want to wait or they get attracted to some other Vaishnava guru. So, he likes to wait.

And although he did say that if the support in a particular place is good, then he may not wait so long. If he feels that his disciples will be very well taken care of, then he is not so worried about making them wait so long. But if he feels that they won’t get so much support and they really have to somehow survive on their own, by their own means, by their own devices to get association, then he may wait longer.

So, what was the question he was asking?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:08:00].

Giriraj Swami: Well, different gurus have different policies. I am not catching the question. I understand the situation you are describing, but I’m not understanding what the question is.

Devotee: Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wants the Krishna consciousness movement spread in every town and village of the world [Unintelligible 01:08:38].

Giriraj Swami: Yeah.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:09:01].

Giriraj Swami: Alright. Srila Prabhupada met his spiritual master in 1922, and he took initiation in 1933, after eleven years, and then he spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. So, do you think that the spreading of Lord Chaitanya’s mission was delayed or hampered by Prabhupada’s waiting eleven years? No. So, I mean, don’t worry about it, if you want to get initiated, I’m sure you’ll find. . . Good, good. Thank you.

Yes? Can we pass the microphone?

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. [Speaks in Hindi language] [Unintelligible 01:10:38].

Devotee 2: [Unintelligible 01:11:02] that jealousy somehow can be controlled by chanting or some other ways. But how do we control the violence that we commit knowingly and unknowingly [Unintelligible 01:11:19] devotional service?

Giriraj Swami: Jīva-hiṁsā; hiṁsā can mean envy or it can mean violence and there is violence to the body. Like people who eat meat, they are doing violence to the body of animals. And then there is violence to the soul, which means not allowing the soul the opportunity to realize its full potential in Krishna consciousness. And yeah, the two go together. But yeah, they are all like kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya, it’s all part of what we conditioned souls are covered by.

But Narottama dasa Thakura has explained how these different kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya, can be dovetailed in the service of the Lord. Kāma means desire, so we should desire for the service of the Lord. Krodha means anger, so we should be angry against the demons who are impeding the work of the devotees and exploiting the innocent people. And lobha, we should be greedy for the association of advanced devotees and the opportunity to hear kṛṣṇa-kathā.

So, everything can be dovetailed in Krishna’s service, and that’s how we can overcome that. Otherwise, sometimes Srila Prabhupada said that if you are angry, you should think of Nṛsiṁha Bhagavān, that will purify your anger and pacify your heart. But we should be very careful with devotees. I mean, getting angry with demons, but becoming angry with devotees is very dangerous, we should always be respectful of devotees. I mean, occasionally, a parent or a guru may exhibit some anger to rectify a child or a disciple, but that anger can be transcendental, or it can be a product of raja-guṇa and tama-guṇa.

So, we should avoid being influenced by raja-guṇa and tama-guṇa, we shouldn’t act on the basis of raja-guṇa and tama-guṇa and get angry. And if we do, then we should go back and beg for forgiveness. But yeah, there have been people, the first time someone got angry at them, as adults, they may keep it with them for years, they’ll never forget that experience. They are serving someone, they are doing their best, or at least doing something, and then the person gets angry and they become so bewildered and they can keep that with them for a long time. So, you should be especially careful with devotees.

Is it all right?

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Maharaja, we knowingly or unknowingly commit mistakes, offenses, sins, and on the platform of knowingly committing sins, we have guilt that we shouldn’t have done that. Simultaneously, we are on the platform of Kc, Krishna consciousness [Unintelligible 01:16:31].

Giriraj Swami: I mean, it’s not my name, it’s Krishna’s name. So, if you don’t want to say Krishna, you say K.

Devotee: So, that guilt, or that result [Unintelligible 01:17:17] I should not be doing Krishna consciousness because I have done something wrong. So, how do we overlook that and make sure that it doesn’t cause any problems in Krishna consciousness, progressing towards Krishna consciousness?

Giriraj Swami: Well, you mentioned committing offenses knowingly or unknowingly. Of course, if we do it knowingly, we should, depending on the situation, approach the person and ask forgiveness. Generally, most offenses are committed with speech. And so, one of the first instructions in devotional service is to control the speech, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, you begin with controlling the tongue.

And Srila Rupa Gosvami, in Upadeśāmṛta, mentioned six items: ṣaḍbhir bhaktir praṇaśyati, that ruin one’s devotional service. And one of the six items is prajalpaḥ. You know what prajalpaḥ is? Unnecessary talks. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura analyzes different categories of unnecessary talks, and one of them is talking about others, not glorifying them, but finding fault in them. And we should not do that, they are very emphatic, we should not talk about others. He said, “If a situation arises where you have to say something bad about another person, you should rather remain silent.”

So, if we can control the tongue, control the urge to speak, vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ, first vāco vegaṁ, control the urge to speak, then we can control the other urges, and we can avoid offenses. But Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if you do criticize a devotee, the devotee may not be aware of it, if you are talking behind his back, and you may or may not want to approach the devotee and tell him, may or may not.

But at least you should go back to the people that you spoke with and maybe apologize and glorify that devotee. And say, “I was just under the influence of envy or pride, and that’s why I said those things, but actually, that person is really a nice devotee, and I shouldn’t have said what I did.” And really purify yourself of that offense.

And then there won’t be any difficulty staying in the association of devotees. You need the association of devotees, but you should associate with them in the proper way, and that means no prajalpaḥ, no speaking badly about others. And it’s so easy, I mean, like they say, it takes as many muscles to frown as to smile, so you should just smile. So, it’s not any easier to speak bad things about devotees, it’s just as easy to speak good things about the Lord and the devotees. So, that’s what we should do, we should just control, vāco vegaṁ, we should just control the urge to speak and say only good things about, of course, the Lord and the devotees.

Does that answer your question?

Yes? Hare Krishna.

Devotee 2: [Unintelligible 01:23:39].

Giriraj Swami: Well, that’s a good point. I mean, we are getting extra mercy today because it’s Gaura-purnima. But Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that the festivals are very important, and from the experience we get in the festival, the inspiration we get in the festival, we should try to introduce that or maintain that in our daily lives, as far as possible. And on a festival day, there is a special facility, you don’t have to eat, depending on your situation, you don’t have to go to work or go to school. So, you are going to immerse yourself fully.

But when we first arrived in Bombay, it was one of the very first programs we had with Srila Prabhupada, it was a big house, big mansion, with a lot of land, well, a nice garden. And so, they set up the program in the garden, and the devotees went ahead, and then Srila Prabhupada came a little later.

So, we were speaking with the host, and they were saying, “Oh, it’s a very auspicious day.” Some holy day, which we had never heard of. So, when Srila Prabhupada arrived, we asked him, “They said today is a holy day, but we never heard of it. Is it a holy day for us?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “For us, every day is a holy day, because we are Krishna’s servants.”

So, if you are always in the mood of being a servant, not master, like the false ego wants, then every day is a holy day, every day is a festival of service.

Alright. So, thank you all very much. We’ll just end by reciting the maha-mantra.

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