SB 2.4.18 – Become the Servant of the Servant

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: It’s a great pleasure to be here. My first visit to Prabhupada Village, such a nice name. And somewhere along the way, I saw a Prabhupada road, also very nice. Today, I shall read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Four, Text Eighteen. Everyone has been to programs before? Is anyone new?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:01:05].

Giriraj Swami: Alright, well, so if you are lacking some background that I might presume that you have, you can ask any of the devotees for clarification afterwards. So, please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Please repeat. Well, to save time, I’ll just read the Sanskrit verse, and then we can recite the synonyms for the Sanskrit responsively.

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. Now, there is a description of these different categories of people, and I may abridge some of the descriptions just for the sake of time, but you’ll get the basic idea.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Kirāta: Generally the Kirātas are known as the aboriginal tribes of India.

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), viz., the inhabitants of the province of the name Pulinda. 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 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.

Śumbhas: The inhabitants of the Kaṅka province of old Bhārata.

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. 

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 to the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord. 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. As Śukadeva Gosvāmī began his prayer by discussing the word yat-kīrtanam, 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. The destination is to go back home, back to Godhead, as we have several times discussed in these pages.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada had a disciple who was a Sanskrit scholar named Pradyumna, and when I met Pradyumna some years ago, we were discussing Srila Prabhupada’s translations and commentaries in relation to those of other acharyas in the line. And Pradyumna said that one thing that distinguished Srila Prabhupada was that generally, the other acharyas would relate the scriptures to the individual, to how the individual could apply the principles of scripture in his own life, and purify his existence, and ultimately, go back to Godhead.

But Srila Prabhupada wrote in a way that extended the application beyond the individual to society at large, and those of you who are familiar with Vedic literatures will recognize that within Srila Prabhupada’s purports, he was referring indirectly to different verses, and one which came at the end of this section we just read is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam, that by saṅkīrtana, by this congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, all the dirty things within the heart can be cleansed, and the blazing fire of material existence extinguished.

But Srila Prabhupada was extending the principle that if the leaders of the world introduced saṅkīrtana, then the hearts of the people in general would be purified, and the fire of misunderstanding would be extinguished.

So, this fire of misunderstanding is extremely prominent in Kali-yuga. In fact, the present age of Kali, Kali literally means quarrel. So, in Kali-yuga, quarrel is very prominent. Kali is also a person, you could say, the personality who is responsible for introducing Kali or quarrel in the world. And yes, Kali is especially present where there is slaughter of animals, taking of intoxicants, and other things that you don’t need to mention explicitly in this sacred assembly.

But the antidote for the effects of Kali is saṅkīrtana, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, or in general, the glorification of the Lord. And so, this is a great instruction for us individually, and in any unit, I mean, individually, collectively, in the broadest sense, but even in different units in between, families, communities, countries, and so on.

Now, another point in the description of these races who are addicted to sinful acts is that many of them were part of Vedic civilization, but because of cutting themselves off from brahminical culture, they became degraded and they fell from their previous platform. And the converse is also true, that people born in sinful races, if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord, they can be elevated.

One person mentioned was Alexander the Great, and Srila Prabhupada told a story about him, which is quite instructive. When he came to the precincts of India, he found a sage or a yogi in meditation. He was sitting with back erect in the blazing heat, and Alexander the Great was very impressed by this demonstration of peacefulness and sense control.

So, he got down and he approached the yogi, and he said, “I’m Alexander the Great, conqueror of the world, and I’m prepared to give you whatever you want.” And the yogi replied, “I ask only one thing of you: you are standing in the way of the sun, you are blocking the sun, please step to the side.”

In other words, that hot sun was part of his austerity, and he didn’t want his austerity to be compromised by Alexander the Great blocking the sun. So then, Alexander the Great told his secretary to send a message to the troops that were following him, “These people here are very special, so don’t mess with them.”

So, spiritual strength is actually more powerful and more impressive even than great material strength. So now, we will continue to read the purport, and we may comment more frequently now.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

Now, this point may seem obvious to us who are sitting here today, but Srila Prabhupada had to work very hard and fight very persistently to establish the fact that anyone, of any community, from any background, could engage in devotional service to Krishna. From the very beginning when Srila Prabhupada returned to India with some of his American and European disciples, there was opposition.

When we first came to Bombay, there was a press conference, and one of the newspapers reported about a devotee named Gopal who had previously been a construction worker, and now Gopal was a devotee engaged in brahminical activities. So, someone wrote in the newspaper that the work of a construction laborer is that of a sudra, so how can a sudra be engaged in worshiping the Deity and speaking the message of the Bhagavad-gītā?

So, Srila Prabhupada formulated a reply, it was a very long reply, it was a full page in the newspaper and it was printed, in which he made many points, including that someone is not considered to belong to a particular caste according to his birth, but according to his qualities and activities. And that although Gopal was a construction worker, but in the West, people believe in the dignity of labor unlike India.

And he also said that the fact that some groups of people do not accept Prabhupada’s disciples as brahmans doesn’t hamper their work as brahmans. And he gave the example that someone may be practicing law in a certain province, now, he may not be recognized as a lawyer in another province, but that doesn’t hamper his working as a lawyer where he is recognized.

So, this went on and on and on throughout. When Srila Prabhupada went to Hyderabad, some caste brahmans approached him and said to Prabhupada, “You are doing the greatest disservice to Hinduism by making these lowborn people brahmans and sannyasis.”

In 1971, a small group of us went to Madras, and we were staying at the home of a very orthodox Hindu family, and the man of the house was saying, “You are Vaishnavas and Vaishnavas are higher than brahmans, but you are not brahmans. You have to take another birth in a brahman family to be considered brahmans.”

So, one of the members of our party was Achyutananda Swami, and Achyutananda Swami said to the gentleman, “What is more powerful: sinful reactions, or Krishna’s holy name?” They had to admit that Krishna’s holy name was more powerful. He said, “Therefore, by chanting Krishna’s holy name, one can eradicate the reactions to sinful activities if we say that the sinful activities were the cause of the lower birth.” And the gentleman had to agree, and that the same fact is corroborated in the scripture, in the Third Canto.

So, it was a constant struggle for Srila Prabhupada, and he was relentless, and because of his efforts, we are here today, and we are engaged in Deity worship, and speaking the message of the Bhagavad-gītā, and so many of the other activities of Krishna consciousness. And sometimes Prabhupada was very humble, I mean, internally, he was always humble. Once, again, in South India, one brahman said, “Swamiji, your disciples do not pronounce Sanskrit properly.” And Prabhupada said, “Therefore, we have come to learn from you.”

PURPORT (continued)

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

So, when I read that, does any name come to mind? Does any person come to mind?

PURPORT (continued)

A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn into a Vaiṣṇava even the Kirāta, etc., as above mentioned.

Devotee: Srila Prabhupada.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Srila Prabhupada, at least that’s the name that came to my mind.

PURPORT (continued)

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. . .

COMMENT

And we should probably take note of this, because probably, we all pretty much fall in the categories of the people mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā (9.32).

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).

COMMENT

So, again, throughout this purport, Srila Prabhupada is really paraphrasing many verses, he thought in terms of verses, but he didn’t always refer to them explicitly. But this verse indirectly refers to Lord Chaitanya’s instruction to Ramananda Raya,

kibā śūdra kibā vipra, nyāsī kene naya, “It doesn’t matter what you are,” yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei ‘guru’ haya, “One who knows the science of Krishna, he can be accepted as guru.”

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.

COMMENT

Now, this is also a very significant point that Srila Prabhupada is making. He is beginning by making the point that a pure devotee can reclaim anyone from any community and elevate the person to the Vaishnava standard, and now he, I guess, you could say, goes one step further and says that those who have been elevated by the pure devotee can, in turn, elevate others by the same method.

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.

COMMENT

Especially through saṅkīrtana, which includes name, form, qualities, pastimes, complete glorification of Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Though a person be even the most sinful man, he can at once be purified by systematic contact with a pure Vaiṣṇava. 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

Now, there are many people who. . . It’s mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that in Kali-yuga, people will consider themselves brahmans just because they wear a sacred thread. So, in 1977, Srila Prabhupada’s last year with us, some of the political leaders in India called a big meeting of brahmans, and the idea was that there was a bonfire, and they would come forward and take off their sacred threads and put it in the fire to indicate their rejection of the caste system. And when Srila Prabhupada was told about the event, he said, “Good, they are admitting that they are all sudras.” And yeah, they wearing that thread had no meaning, so better take it off.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

So, this point, the only qualification, does anyone remember what is the only qualification?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:41:19].

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, the only qualification is that one takes shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge of the transcendental science of Krishna.

So, one time in Bombay, Tamal Krishna Goswami needed to have a hernia operation, and when Srila Prabhupada found out, he wanted to stop the operation because he didn’t trust the doctors in India. It may be different now, but at that time, he wanted to stop the operation.

And in those days, it was very hard to get a telephone, I mean, cell phones were way in the future, but just getting a telephone was difficult. Srila Prabhupada said that in India, to get a telephone, you have to bribe a minister 5000 rupees. And if you got one, it was very questionable whether it would work, and if yours worked, it was questionable whether the number you were phoning would work.

So, Srila Prabhupada tried to phone the hospital, it was the best hospital in Bombay at the time, but he couldn’t get through, and he decided that he would go personally to try to stop the operation. So, at that time, for a long time, we didn’t have any motor vehicles, but at that time, we had a jeep in the, I guess, original style, with a canvas covering and no real doors, just flap open. I guess maybe you can snap it closed or something.

Prabhupada rode by jeep all the way from Juhu to central Bombay, but it was too late, the operation had already been performed, and they were rolling Tamal Krishna Goswami out of the operation theater to the recovery room. And when he opened his eyes, he saw Srila Prabhupada and he said, “Srila Prabhupada, I was just having a dream about you, and in this dream, you were giving a report to the previous acharyas about how the mission was going on the planet earth.

And you said, “The people on planet earth have no background in spiritual culture, they have no good qualities, generally, they have no interest in spiritual life, and all in all, they have no scope to take to Krishna consciousness.” And then he said, “But they do have one qualification, and that is that they have complete faith in me, and whatever I tell them, they will do, and that alone will save them.” And then, Tamal Krishna Goswami looked to Srila Prabhupada for confirmation or disconfirmation, and Prabhupada said, “Yes, it is true.”

So, that is our qualification, as stated here.

PURPORT (continued)

The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord.

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, 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.

COMMENT

This is another paraphrase of a verse from the Padma Purāṇa, and there is more to it, but the idea is that everyone knows that the Deity is marvel, but the Deity is more than marble. Ultimately, it’s not marble, it’s more than marble. So similarly, a devotee may be whatever, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā, but he is more than that. And Lord Chaitanya explains that dīkṣā-kāle, at the time of initiation, when Krishna accepts a soul surrendered unto Him, that person’s body changes, Krishna accepts him as good as Himself. So, it’s a very subtle process, but it’s powerful.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

You know what is arcanam?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:49:35].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, arcanam means Deity worship. This is Archana Siddhi dasi. We’ll try to stick to the time, vāco vegaṁ.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

I understand working towards that goal of having a worshipable Deity installed in the temple here.

PURPORT (continued)

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

That must be a reference to that verse that I cited when Sanatana Gosvami was mortified because he was afflicted with a terrible disease and he was oozing bad-smelling liquids from his body, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was forcibly embracing him, and he felt so bad he wanted to give up his body, which felt so terrible. And so, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, dīkṣā-kāle, at the time of initiation, when the soul surrenders itself to the service of Krishna, Krishna transforms his body and accepts him to be as good as Himself. But of course, a Vaishnava will never think like that about himself, that should be understood.

Once in Bombay, Yashomati Nandan Prabhu began a question to Srila Prabhupada, “When a devotee is perfect. . .” And Prabhupada interrupted him and said that a devotee never thinks that he is perfect. As soon as you think that you are perfect, you are a rascal. And then he quoted, guru more mūrkha dekhi, karila śāsana. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “My spiritual master considered Me to be a great fool and he chastised Me.”

So, Srila Prabhupada said that we should always feel that we are fools before our spiritual master and be ready to be chastised. That makes us perfect. And as soon as we think, I’m perfect, it means we are a rascal. This is the abbreviated version, Prabhupada used the word rascal many times in that discussion, because that’s what we need to hear sometimes.

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

In other words, made of stone or wood or whatever.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

Who comes to mind?

Devotee: Haridasa.

Giriraj Swami: Haridasa Thakura, yes.

PURPORT (continued)

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). That is the way of self-realization.

COMMENT

Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, many of you know this verse.

PURPORT (continued)

That is the way of self-realization.

COMMENT

So, real bhakti begins when we are free from the bodily concept of life.

TEXT 54

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

COMMENT

That means that we don’t identify with the body and we don’t see others in terms of the body, but we see everyone as part and parcel of Krishna, eternal servant of Krishna. And we see that everyone has the potential to engage in devotional service to Krishna, and so we want to encourage them. And those who are already engaged, we also want to encourage them, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, to be the servant of the servant of the servant.

Once, there was a temple where there was some conflict among the devotees, and they asked Srila Prabhupada what to do, and Srila Prabhupada said, “If everyone thinks, I’m the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, then there will be no more conflict.” And sometimes he said that the devotees should engage in common activities like saṅkīrtana. But the basic idea is that the soul is part and parcel of Krishna that’s meant to serve Krishna, that means everyone is meant to serve Krishna, and we are meant to be the servants of the servants of the servants, that means we are meant to be the servants of everyone.

Once, Srila Prabhupada gave a talk on the different orders of life, and one, I think, a newspaper reporter, it might have been a professor, in a sort of cynical way said, “And what are you? I suppose you are at the top of the whole hierarchy.” And Srila Prabhupada looked down and he said, “I’m the lowest, I’m the servant of everyone.” And he meant it. It wasn’t just a smart answer, but he actually meant it.

Actually, in Vrindavan, when they were first considering making the Deity of Srila Prabhupada, he said he wanted his hands to be in this pose, to indicate that he is the servant of everyone. But then, I guess, in the end, they went for kirtan, which is the other side, tṛṇād api su-nīcena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. So, this is our line, servant of the servant of the servant, somehow try to encourage others, and when we encourage others, we will feel encouraged.

Before I met the devotees, I was studying psychology, and I was told of an experiment performed in a high school where students were told to select another student who they disliked the most, and then for one month, they were supposed to be very nice to the person that they hated the most, and after the month was over, the students were asked how they felt about the person who they disliked so much, and they all came to like the person they disliked.

Now, ordinarily, we might think, Well, if someone’s nice to me, I like them. But this shows that if you are nice to someone else, you like them. Of course, if you are nice to them, they might be nice to you too, but the initial action was you being nice to the other person, and that’s dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. It’s really our constitutional position and the solution to all problems, almost.

So, thank you for coming to this talk. What can I say? I mean, I really believe this to be true, if it weren’t for Srila Prabhupada, none of us would be here and we wouldn’t be doing what we are able to do now by his efforts and grace. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? There are so many senior devotees here. Yes?

Devotee: I’m wondering what’s going on in Prabhupada’s life when he is writing that purport [Unintelligible 01:03:15].

Giriraj Swami: No, this is from the Second Canto, and of course, he published the First Canto before he came, and I believe he was translating this in America.

Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:03:52].

Giriraj Swami: Well, we are mentioned but not by name, we are in that category of others addicted to sinful activities. Don’t feel left out, you come in that category.

Any other questions? Yes, what is your name?

Devotee: Dhruva Maharaja dasa.

Giriraj Swami: Dhruva Maharaja dasa. What is your name?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:04:38].

Giriraj Swami: Oh, Hare Krishna.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:04:46] the most abominable man can be purified completely by systematically [Unintelligible 01:04:56]. You can’t just. . . I mean, I try to just take shelter but because I don’t have any steadiness, I continue to suffer. So, it has to be systematic, right? You have to do the process correctly [Unintelligible 01:05:23].

Giriraj Swami: Well, you have to want to follow, and you should arrange your life in such a way that’s favorable for your following, which means association. I mean, there are talks about habits, that in the beginning, you have to make a conscious, deliberate effort to develop a new habit, and then after a while, it becomes a habit, and it’s not so hard.

And generally, in any activities, including developing a new habit, or especially developing a new habit, you should have people who support you in your effort. And if they are in close physical proximity, that’s wonderful, that’s a great boon, but even if not, you can still be in communication. One of my friends is His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:07:01].

Giriraj Swami: Well, you haven’t met. We like to chant japa together, and somehow, after we were together, fairly recently in Texas, when I came to California, he started to send me text messages when he was about to begin his japa. And he has a phrase, “Japa heaven.” So, he’d send a text message, “Entering japa heaven, everyone welcome.” And those messages are actually very encouraging, and I might write back a little something, and then he might write back a little something. And yeah, just that message reminds me of how important it is to chant attentively, and it also makes me feel connected with him that he is also making the same effort.

And last year, we came to the sādhu-saṅga retreat together, and I don’t know whether it was the GPS or the printout or something, but things weren’t going according to plan. But somehow, I don’t know how he came up with it, but I think he gave himself. . . Anyway, he gave one of us the nickname Eagle Eye, maybe I saw something, some sign or something, and maybe gave himself the nickname Homing Pigeon.

So, this one morning, he said, I thought it was quite a charming text, the first japa heaven, then he said, “I’ve heard that there is an ocean of nectar out here and I’m looking for that ocean of nectar.” And so, then I wrote back, “Well, if you find it, let me know where it is.” “It’s our own team of Homing Pigeon and Eagle Eye, looking for that ocean of nectar in the holy name.” So, the point I’m making is about association, encouraging association. If you are together physically, that’s wonderful, it’s fantastic, but if not, have some sort of support.