SB 5.18.9 – Delivering the World from Envy by Spreading Krishna Consciousness

Giriraj Swami:

ŚB 5.18.9

svasty astu viśvasya khalaḥ prasīdatāṁ
dhyāyantu bhūtāni śivaṁ mitho dhiyā
manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje
āveśyatāṁ no matir apy ahaitukī

TRANSLATION

May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other’s welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The following verse describes a Vaiṣṇava:

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Just like a desire tree, a Vaiṣṇava can fulfill all the desires of anyone who takes shelter of his lotus feet. Prahlāda Mahārāja is a typical Vaiṣṇava. He prays not for himself but for all living entities — the gentle, the envious and the mischievous. He always thought of the welfare of mischievous persons like his father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Prahlāda Mahārāja did not ask for anything for himself; rather, he prayed for the Lord to excuse his demoniac father. This is the attitude of a Vaiṣṇava, who always thinks of the welfare of the entire universe.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and bhāgavata-dharma are meant for persons who are completely free of envy (parama-nirmatsarāṇām). Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays in this verse, khalaḥ prasīdatām: “May all the envious persons be pacified.” The material world is full of envious persons, but if one frees himself of envy, he becomes liberal in his social dealings and can think of others’ welfare. Anyone who takes up Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engages himself completely in the service of the Lord cleanses his mind of all envy (manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje).

COMMENT

So practically everyone in the material world is envious. In fact, we are in the material world because we are envious of the Supreme or Krishna. And being envious of Krishna, we are envious of everyone else. Our very being, are permeated by envy, beginning with envy with Krishna, and the way to become free from envy is to engage in devotional service, that fixes the mind and the intelligence and the full consciousness on Krishna. But in order to engage in bhakti-yoga, one must be free from envy, nirmatsarāṇām. Bhāgavata-dharma are meant for persons who are completely free of envy. And therefore, Prahlada Maharaja, in his prayer, asked to be pacified because only if their envy is subdued can they engage in bhakti-yoga

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore we should pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to sit in our hearts.

COMMENT

Now, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva is a form of Krishna, and it is a special form of Krishna, who is meant to protect devotees, and to annihilate the demons, the envious persons who are against God and against devotional service and against devotees.

Is there anyone who is in one of our classes for the first time, who has never been to any of our programs before?

So, this particular form of the Lord appeared to protect Prahlada Maharaja from his father, who was envious even of his son. And he did come, and he killed the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu and saved the devotee, Prahlada. When Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed, Nṛsiṁhadeva asked Prahlada to accept some benediction. But Prahlada did not want to accept any benediction. He said that, “I serve you only for the sake of serving, because it is my natural position to serve you. If I served you to get something in return, I would be a merchant making some exchange. I don’t want to be a merchant, I want to be a pure servant, and the pure master also will not give something material in return for service, but a pure master will also reciprocate on the platform of pure love.” But then Prahlada said, “I do.” The Lord insisted, and then finally, Prahlada said, “Then I do have one request. Please forgive my father, who engaged in many inhumane activities, committed offences against you, and also against me, your devotee.” So Prahlada didn’t ask for anything for himself, but he ask for something for his envious father, which means that he was thinking of everyone’s welfare. If he could think of the welfare of the person who tried to kill him in so many ways, then it means he is thinking about the welfare of everyone.

Now, because we have come into the material world being envious of Krishna, so that demonic tendency that was exhibited fully by the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu, it also exists in us, at least in some subtle form. And therefore, devotees pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, not just to protect them from the demons outside, but also to protect them from the demons inside, our own selfish, egoistic, materialistic tendencies. And so this comes next.

PURPORT (continued)

We should pray, bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁhaḥ: 

COMMENT

Now this is a song, or line from a song that the Lord says every day. bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁhaḥ. So, who, without looking on your iPhone, can tell me what those words mean? Yes, what is your name?

Devotee: Kushi.

Giriraj Swami: Do you know what Kushi means?

Devotee: Kushi means happy.

Giriraj Swami: Are you happy? Sometimes. All right, so what does it mean, bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁhaḥ?

Devotee: Nṛsiṁhadeva is inside and he is outside.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Bahir, he is outside, hṛdaye – he is inside. Kushi, what do you have to do to be happy all the time?

Devotee: Pray to Lord Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: You are smiling because you are starting.

PURPORT (continued)

We should pray, bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁhaḥ: “Let Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva sit in the core of my heart, killing all my bad propensities. Let my mind become clean so that I may peacefully worship the Lord and bring peace to the entire world.”

COMMENT

Sometimes people want peace, but not everyone wants peace. We have to begin by finding peace within ourselves and then we can do for others.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has given us a very fine purport in this regard. Whenever one offers a prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one always requests some benediction from Him. Even pure (niṣkāma) devotees pray for some benediction, as instructed by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Śikṣāṣṭaka:

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

“O son of Mahārāja Nanda [Kṛṣṇa], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick Me up from the ocean of death and place Me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.” 

COMMENT

So, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu acting as the ideal devotee, show Himself to us to pray to the Lord to ask some benediction. So, in the verse we just recited, what is the benediction that we asked for? Yes, Kushi?

Kushi: Krishna should pick him up from the ocean of nescience.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that Krishna should pick him up from the ocean of birth and death and place him as an atom at His lotus feet. And who can think of another prayer in the Śikṣāṣṭakam, in which Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ask the benediction?

PURPORT (ontinued)

In another prayer Lord Caitanya says, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi: “Life after life, kindly let Me have unalloyed love and devotion at Your Lordship’s lotus feet.”

COMMENT

In other words, he doesn’t pray even for liberation, although he did say pick me up from the ocean of repeated birth and death. That is really to engage in devotional service because here he says, “I only want to serve you, birth after birth, mama janmani janmanīśvare. that is all I want. I want to bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi, without any cause, without any motive, just to serve.”

PURPORT (continued)

When Prahlāda Mahārāja chants oṁ namo bhagavate narasiṁhāya, he prays for a benediction from the Lord, but because he is also an exalted Vaiṣṇava, he wants nothing for his personal sense gratification. The first desire expressed in his prayer is svasty astu viśvasya: “Let there be good fortune throughout the entire universe.” Prahlāda Mahārāja thus requested the Lord to be merciful to everyone, including his father, a most envious person. According to Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, there are two kinds of envious living entities:

COMMENT

Now, who knows what the two kinds of envious living entities are? Raise your hand. My dear devotees, you are too pure. You don’t think about envious people.

Devotee: Snake.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, the snake and an envious person. And of the two, which is more dangerous?

Devotee: Envious person.

PURPORT (continued)

According to Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, there are two kinds of envious living entities: one is a snake, and the other is the man like Hiraṇyakaśipu, who is by nature envious of everyone, even of his father or son. Hiraṇyakaśipu was envious of his little son Prahlāda, but Prahlāda Mahārāja asked a benediction for the benefit of his father. Hiraṇyakaśipu was very envious of devotees, but Prahlāda wished that his father and other demons like him would give up their envious nature by the grace of the Lord and stop harassing the devotees (khalaḥ prasīdatām). The difficulty is that the khala (envious living entity) is rarely pacified. One kind of khala, the snake, can be pacified simply by mantras or by the action of a particular herb (mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ khalakena nivāryate). An envious person, however, cannot be pacified by any means. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays that all envious persons may undergo a change of heart and think of the welfare of others.

If the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Kṛṣṇa everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others. 

COMMENT

I have heard—I don’t know if it is true but I suppose it is true because I heard it from a reliable source, that the young people today are very disturbed by the election campaigns. They are very, very just discouraged by the election because they don’t like any of the leading candidates. They think that they are just going to be in the hands of some exploitative person. In other words, we do need a change but that change can be effective only with a change of consciousness. Otherwise, pretty much, it will be one or the other. There won’t be much difference. I remember in India, there was a period when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. She called the state of emergency. The emergency was that people didn’t like her, so she declared a state of emergency and put everyone who didn’t like her in jail on the fear of national security. And then there was a period in which, everyone was flattering her because they had no choice, and it went to her head that people liked her. And so, she removed the state of emergency, and she called for elections. And in the elections, she was defeated, and a coalition against her came into power. And when this sequence of events took place, Srila Prabhupada commented that, “People are jubilant. The lion is gone; the lion is gone.” But they don’t know that in case of the lion, now they have a tiger. In other words, there won’t be any improvement; they are all the same because they are all basically envious, materialistic people. It may not apply to the present Prime Minister, I do reserve judgment, but often, that is the case that there is really no choice because we are just dealing with envious people. That is true. Prabhupada says almost everyone is envious.

PURPORT (continued)

If the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Kṛṣṇa everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others.

COMMENT

This is one of the phenomena in elections is that everyone is saying, “I will do better service to the nation. I will do better service to the people.” But externally, they are saying they will do better in service, but internally, they are thinking about how they can exploit. “I will do better service to the people,” but they are thinking, “I will do pretty good for myself.” But I don’t mean to focus on any particular event; maybe it is the influence of the neighborhood, but it is true everywhere. The real solution wherever is Krishna consciousness, and everyone will think of the welfare of others. One of the basic principles of politics is friends and enemies, and Prahlada Maharaja was being trained by his father, by the teachers appointed by his father, in the science of politics, which is based on friends and enemies. But Prahlada found himself incapable of thinking in terms of friends and enemies. He felt that everyone should be friendly with everyone else because everyone is naturally a servant of Krishna. And so, everyone should engage in the service of Krishna and then be friendly with each other.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays, śivaṁ mitho dhiyā. In material activities, everyone is envious of others, but in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, no one is envious of anyone else; everyone thinks of the welfare of others. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays that everyone’s mind may become gentle by being fixed at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa (bhajatād adhokṣaje). As indicated elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ) and as advised by Lord Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā (18.65), man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, one should constantly think of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then one’s mind will certainly be cleansed (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam).

COMMENT

So, this is Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness means always thinking of Krishna. And by always thinking of Krishna, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, our consciousness will be purified, and we will become happy, and we will think of the welfare of others. And that is why we have temples. That is why we are undertaking the new temple: to give people a chance to come and think of Krishna and to become happy and peaceful, and this will bring peace to the world. That is the only motive. There is no other motive. It is just to give people a chance to become Krishna conscious. And the devotees are so selfless. It must take a lot of effort, architectural drawings are made and then the permits from the government and organizing all the materials and all the contractors and the funds, organizing the funds. There is a lot of effort, a lot of endeavor, but that is the merciful nature of Vaishnavas, who want to do good for others by spreading Krishna consciousness.

In Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada was living in a grass hut, and the disciples built a nice building with marble floors, and Srila Prabhupada didn’t want to move. He said, “I am very happy in my grass hut. Why should I move?” And, different disciples gave different answers. He rejected all of them, “I am not moving.” Saying, “This building, that is like in Rajoguna, mode of passion. I like my grass hut.” Then finally one disciple said, “Srila Prabhupada, if you just stay at this grass hut, very few people will come to hear you. But, if you move into the new building, then more people will come, and they will hear your message, and then they will benefit.” So, on that basis, Srila Prabhupada agreed to move. He said, “Otherwise, I am more happy in my grass hut.” So it is for the sake of others that Vaishnavas take the pains to construct these opulent buildings.

PURPORT (continued)

Materialists always think of sense gratification, but Prahlāda Mahārāja prays that the Lord’s mercy will change their minds and they will stop thinking of sense gratification. If they think of Kṛṣṇa always, everything will be all right. Some people argue that if everyone thought of Kṛṣṇa in that way, the whole universe would be vacated because everyone would go back home, back to Godhead.

COMMENT

Sometimes people actually raise this question: “What if everyone became a devotee? What would happen to the world?”

PURPORT (continued)

However, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that this is impossible because the living entities are innumerable. If one set of living entities is actually delivered by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, another set will fill the entire universe.

COMMENT

We don’t have to worry about that. There are many, many times when people would raise this question in India. Once at the Khumba-mela, somebody raised the same question to Srila Prabhupada, “What if everyone became a Krishna conscious devotee? Who would work in the factory? Who would do this and that?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “It is like asking, if everyone became rich, who would be the chauffeur to drive the rich man? Does anyone not want to become rich for fear that if everyone becomes rich, then who will be the chauffeur to drive the rich man?” And he said, “That is not the problem that too many people will become Krishna conscious. The problem is that too few people will become Krishna conscious.”

I was at an event that was hosting with Radhanath Swami, he told us a story that he was invited to deliver a talk at a school of accountants (CA). And, he gave his talk, and then one of the students got up and said, “I completely disagree with everything you said. What you have said is completely wrong, and I am totally against what you say. And you are just cheating people, and you should not say these things.” And he stood up, and all the other students cheered. And he said, the reason what you are saying is wrong, and that I am so against it, is if everyone became a devotee, who would plow the fields? Who would do this? Who would do that? But the whole world would come to a stop. So Radhanath Swami describes that he was really on the spot. So he said a little prayer to Krishna, “How do I response to this?” He got an answer, and then he said, “What if everyone in the world became an accountant? who would plow the fields? Who would run the factory? Who would do all the other things? There would be no one to do anything, and in fact, there would be nothing for the accountants to do either because there would be no one doing anything for them to keep account of.”

So this is a totally false argument. And I dare say that the underlying basis of that argument, and pretty much any argument against Krishna consciousness is envy. But the only solution to the envious people is Krishna consciousness, and therefore, Prahlada prays to the Lord to pacify them. And not only does he pray, but he also thinks of ways how to engage them in devotional service. And so our devotees here, following that same line of Prahlada Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada want to build this temple, and for most so many activities, like book distribution so that people can become Krishna conscious. And this is the fiftieth anniversary of the of Srila Prabhupada founding ISKCON is very significant. This is the fortieth anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to this Vedic Temple. He saw this same deity of Gaura-Nitai.

Jaya Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

Sri Sri Kalachandji ki jaya!

You are sitting in the same room that Srila Prabhupada was in forty years ago. This is like a holy place; his energy is still here. It spreads all over the devotees. So, thank you very much. So, to exemplify what we have been talking about, we will chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra three times.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Thank you very much. So, do any of you have any thoughts you would like to share? Any reflections any comments any questions? Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:48:18]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, absolutely. So do we have a microphone? Ok, I will repeat it. I won’t be able to quote the Sanskrit, but a very nice shloka that he learned in school from [Unintelligible 00:49:23], and that says that in a serpent, the poison is localized in the fangs, and in a scorpion, the poison is localized in the tail. But in an envious person, the poison is everywhere. So he is highlighting the dangerous, poisonous effects of envious people. Any others additions?

Devotee: Should devotees go to the Khumba-mela?

Giriraj Swami: Well, it depends on their motive. But if they are going to preach Krishna consciousness, it could be a good opportunity. Srila Prabhupada return to India in late 1970 and he went to the Khumba-mela in 1971 in Ardha Khumba-mela. And then it just so happened that in 1977, was Maha Khumba-mela. Every twelve-years, there is Khumba-mela and every twelve Khumba-melas, that is every one hundred and forty-four years is Maha Khumba-mela, and that was in 1977. And he said that actually our only real interest in going is to preach.

Any other questions or comments? Yes, Devaprapta Prabhu.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:51:45]

Giriraj Swami: Well, I think of a few things that Srila Prabhupada said about envy. One was that we should give credit where credit is due, otherwise we become envious. And another thing he said was that if you have knowledge and you don’t share it with others, you become envious. So, this is something that we can all keep in mind that we have knowledge and we don’t share it with others, we become envious. Envy means keeping someone down. So, if we have knowledge that could bring them up and we don’t share it, then it means we are keeping them down. That is like envy. Of course, we might think that, Oh, they might not want to hear what I have to say. Then that could be the case, but still, we have to find the ways that we can say it somehow.

Once, I asked Prabhupada about envy, I have been thinking about it quite seriously in Surat, India, and so I asked about envy. And he said, “Can you think of any reasons not to be envious?” And I said, “Yes,” because I have been thinking about it. So the different reasons I thought of included that Krishna is unlimited, so Krishna’s service is unlimited. So if some other devotee gets some service, it doesn’t mean that my chances of doing service have been diminished because Krishna’s service is unlimited. And also, I realized that if I had envy towards someone, it would disturb my relationship with the person. Even if I try to control it and not acted on this, but still, it would somehow cause some subtle disturbance in my relationship. So that was like another reason not to be envious. And it wasn’t that I felt happy with myself, and I didn’t like the feeling of having envy in my heart. I felt that envy was a disturbance itself, a contamination. So I had already thought of these different points, and then when Srila Prabhupada asked me, “Have you thought of any reasons why not to be envious?” So I just said, “Yes.” He said, “All right, then envy means that you don’t like someone, and that not liking should not be directed towards devotees but that not liking should be directed towards demons who are creating so much havoc in the world and creating so much difficulty for devotees.” So, that was his answer to me when I asked. And that doesn’t refer to something uncontrolled, but it means it is channeling that energy into improving the world. That is really what it comes down to. Yes.

Just one other nice example I think of sometimes is, say someone is over you, and so you are holding on to their feet. So if you are envious, you want to pull them down. By pulling them down, you are also going down. But instead of trying to pull them down, if you support them, push them up then you also get pushed up.

Devotee: Maharaja, how do we deal with these emotions that, I don’t know if they are envy, but if somebody is traveling to Vrindavan during Kartik, you get this feeling that I wish I could do that, or somebody’s associated with spiritual master, get special mercy. You wish you were there in that spot. I guess that is envy as well, and how do we deal with that spiritual envy?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, in a way, it is envy, but what it really is, is that you are not, in a way. We continue on the theme of envy, we could say it is ultimately on Krishna, because Krishna is the cause of all causes. But I think it is more a matter of maybe lack of faith, the lack of gratitude for what you do have. You are focusing on what you don’t have, but you have so much. So, it is better to feel grateful for what you have and take advantage of what you have, rather than thinking about what you don’t have and that someone else has that you don’t have. Or you can think of how to get that in Vrindavan, get that association. But when there is envy, because the motive is maybe wrong, so even if you get it, you won’t get the benefit if your motive was wrong.

Any other questions or comments? Yes sir, what is your name?

Devotee: My name is Shiva.

Giriraj Swami: Shiva! That is auspicious one.

Devotee: What do you when a person is envious of you when he treat? How do we treat them in a way that would be good?

Giriraj Swami: Well, that is actually a good question. And in the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it says that if you don’t have anything, then people won’t be envious of you. So, it is good not to have anything for yourself. Whatever you have is for Krishna, and even then, some people might be envious, but still, it is different because you will be detached. And a lot of the time, it works. You just smile and accept it.

It does happen sometimes that in a marriage, one of the spouses will be inclined to Krishna consciousness, and the other will not be. And so the one who is not inclined will often find fault with Krishna consciousness, and may even try to provoke the spouse. I always suggest that the best thing you can do in general is to be calm and happy. That will speak volumes in favor of Krishna consciousness, and depending on the situation, just smile and agree with everything. If the spouse says, these devotees are bad people. Just smile and say, “Yes, you are right.” “You shouldn’t go to the temple; you shouldn’t associate with them.” “Yes, alright.” Just smile and agree with everything, and then you are going to the temple anyway but you won’t have those frictions. It is even in one of the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that, if friends and family members give you advice to lead a more materialistic way of life, superficially, you should agree and say, “Yes, this is very good advice,” but internally, you should remain fixed in your conviction not to create any complications for your spiritual welfare. So, as we progress in Krishna consciousness, we become more aware of our own anarthas. As Bhurijana Prabhu does many japa-retreats and when you really go deep in japa, you see how much dirt is there and how bad you are. Then, when someone else criticizes you, you think, Excuse me, if he only knew what I am living like, he would be saying much worse things. But he doesn’t really know, so this is mild.

Another thing Srila Prabhupada said is, we see things as a result of our own past activities, karma. He said, “Never be angry at the instrument of your karma.” If another person is doing it, then you will be angry. But if you think that the other person is acting as an instrument to teach you something, then you can accept it in a positive way. Sometimes it happens. I have many of my own stories, but I will quote one from His Holiness Niranjana Swami. He was visiting in the early days, and he was, I think, the saṅkīrtana leader going out for all weeks and distributing books morning to night. And for some reason, the temple president was always speaking bad things about him, and it was really disturbing to him. This went on, and whenever he would come to the Boston temple, the temple president would just really say horrible things about him. So one day, or one time, a verse came up something about envy. And Niranjana Swami had to give a class on that verse. It wasn’t exactly about envy, but it was about tolerating insults, and it completely fit the situation that he was experiencing. So as he was giving that class, he was getting so many realizations, and he felt that internally he was being caressed, embraced, and just experiencing this type of ecstatic lecture. And then after that, the temple president just stopped criticizing him.

So, sometimes that happens, where something appears to come up against us from an envious person, but we are meant to learn something from that. And when we learn what we are meant to learn, then that external harassment or pressure that has been put on us can end. I heard a nice phrase earlier today. Sometimes in the circle of devotees, devotees will take something that Srila Prabhupada said and use it as an instrument to defeat another devotee or put another devotee down. To understand what Srila Prabhupada wants, you can’t just take one quote. You have to see the whole body of what Prabhupada has said on the subject, understand the context in which he said it, and then try to understand in particular situation. It is like children having, Srila Prabhupada said, a snowball fight. Is that all right? Okay Shiva. Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:09:15]

Giriraj Swami: That is the good point. [Unintelligible 01:09:40]

Our eternal occupation is to serve Krishna, but you can do that acting as a farmer, acting as a businessman, if you are doing anything. So, that make sense.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:10:24]

Giriraj Swami: Okay, so there are three books. The first is called Watering the Seed, and the title comes from Lord Chaitanya’s instructions to Rupa Gosvami, that bhakti-latā-bīja, we take the seed of devotional service, and you plant it and water it by hearing and chanting about Krishna. So this has many exchanges between me and Srila Prabhupada, and it talks on different topics. There is one called “Pure Servant, Pure Master,” it is about that exchange between the Prahlada Maharaja and Nṛsiṁhadeva. This one is called Many Moons, and of course, there is the saying like there is a long time passes, you say “many moons.” I heard it the other day, so there is been many moons since I saw it. So that is one meaning. But here is the deeper meaning. Srila Prabhupada quote a verse from Chanakya that one moon can light up the darkness of night more than thousands of little stars. Srila Prabhupada often says that he didn’t want thousands of cheap disciples twinkling like stars that don’t really shed any light, but he wanted one moon. So, that was a big question, whether Srila Prabhupada would get that one moon. And then in one talk, Srila Prabhupada said, “I was thinking if I will get one moon, but by the grace of Krishna, now I have many moons.”

And this is about nine followers who left their bodies. So, first is the Jayananda Prabhu, His Holiness Gaura Govinda Swami Maharaja, Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, Sridhra Maharaja, then His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami, Bhakti Svarupa Damodar Maharaja. then there are three grand disciples. One was initiated by Lady Arca Vigraha, she was a European lady from South Africa, and she passed away in Vrindavan. It was actually her dying wish that there should be a hospice in Vrindavan, and that led to Bhaktivedanta Hospital. The there is Mother Kirtida, the disciple of Tamal Krishna Goswami. She was also from South Africa but of Indian origin, and she left her body in Dallas. Then a wonderful devotee named Abhirama Thakura; he was Bengali from Pakistan, West Pakistan. So I would go there, and it was very sweet. He was a very rare person because he was like exemplary, very detached as a grihastha and then vanaprastha. And so, the story of these nine—oh yes, and this one, there is a Forward written by His Holiness Radhanath Swami. And this one there is a Forward written by Bhakti Bringh Govinda Swami. And this is Life’s Final Exam. There is a verse: “Who can guess what is Life’s Final Exam?”

Devotee: Death.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, so there is a Bengali verse like, bhajan karo sadhana karo, martya janle be. Whatever sadhana and bhajana you do is very good, but the real test will come at the time of death if you are able to remember Krishna, and that is why it is so important to chant and hear with attention, not just externally to making a show. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that a parrot can learn to say “Hare Krishna,” he said the word “Hare Krishna,” but if a cat attacks that parrots, there is no Hare Krishna. It says, “Kaha, Kaha, Kaha.” So he was saying that our chanting shouldn’t be like that, like a parrot. And then when death comes, there is no Hare Krishna, only “Ahaa. . .” It has to be from the heart, so that when death comes, that is in our heart, and that will come out. But this has many elements to it; cultural aspects, philosophical aspects. There is a story of the hospice, and then there are testimonies of devotees who took care of other devotees who were dying. Not only taking care of the devotee but even taking care of other relatives. There is one Kesava Bharati dasa Gosvami, who took care of his mother, who was a Christian, and then in the end, became a devotee. And then I took care of my parents separately, and they were Jewish. They stayed Jewish, but in their own way, they had very auspicious departures. And then there was one by another couple—the father-in-law of the devotee, her name is Kaushaya. Father-in-law was an atheist; he was in Delhi. But somehow, at the end, like within the last two weeks, he became a theist. He didn’t become a devotee; he didn’t become a Christian, but he became theist.

And so the story is very instructive on how to help a dying person physically, or also, and emotionally also, but especially, spiritually. And then there are pieces by devotees who were confronted by death. There is one devotee; she was in the Merrill Lynch building right across from the World Trade Center on 9/11. She was seeing—she saw the plane flies into the building. The first time they thought, like the sort of mistake, and she saw the second one, and she was seeing people jumping out of windows and flapping their arms, trying to not even fly this way. It was just flames everywhere, but somehow, in the midst of all of that, and it went on because, that she had some very deep realizations about Krishna consciousness. And then there is some more from Bhakti Tirtha Swami, going through process of death. So there are many, many wonderful events. So I highly recommend them, not because I am the author, because I don’t even really consider that I am an author. But I do feel each with both sells for twenty dollars. That is special if you get a set of all three, fifty dollars. And we take credit cards.

So I will stay here, and I will sign the books. So thank you for asking me.