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:

COMMENT

If you know the verse, you can chant with me.

PURPORT (continued)

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 beings are permeated by envy, beginning with our envy of Krishna. And the way to become free from envy is to engage in devotional service—to fix 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. Nirmatsarāṇāṁ, bhāgavata-dharma, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in bhāgavata-dharma is for those who are free from envy. And therefore, Prahlada begins his prayer, “But let all envious persons become pacified.” Because only if their envy is subdued can they engage in bhakti-yoga.

PURPORT (continued)

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). 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 the devotees and to annihilate the demons. Demons mean 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, are there any new persons here who have never been in one of our programs before?

So, this particular form of the Lord appeared to protect Prahlada Maharaja from his father who was envious of him. He was envious of the Lord and envious even of his own son, and he did come and he killed Hiraṇyakaśipu and saved the devotee Prahlada. But when Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed, Nṛsiṁhadeva asked Prahlada to accept some benediction. And Prahlada did not want to accept any benediction. He said, “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 wouldn’t be a real servant, 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 only reciprocate on the platform of pure love. But the Lord insisted, and then finally, Prahlada said, “I do have one request of You, and that is that You excuse my father who engaged in many heinous activities, he committed many offenses against You and also against me and the devotees.”

So, Prahlada did not ask for anything for himself, rather asked 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, it means that he was 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 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)

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). Therefore we should pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to sit in our hearts. We should pray, bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁhaḥ:

COMMENT

Now, this is a line from a song that devotees sing every day—bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁhaḥ. So, who, without looking at your iPhone, can tell me what those words mean? Yes, what is your name? Khushi, do you know what Khushi means? Happy. Are you happy? …Sometimes, all right. So, what does it mean? Bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁho

Devotee: Nrsingadeva is outside and He is inside.

Giriraj Swami:

Yes, bahir, he is outside, nṛsiṁho, he is outside, hṛdaye, he is in the heart. Khushi, what do you have to do to be happy all the time?

Devotee: Pray to Lord Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Pray to Lord Krishna, and you will be happy. You are smiling, it means you are starting …

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore we should pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to sit in our hearts. 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, well, everyone wants peace, but we have to begin by making peace within us, in ourselves, and then we can want peace in the world.

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.

COMMENT

Did you all hear that? Someone raise your hand and tell me what I just read. You all said you heard it; what did you hear?

Devotee: When we offer some prayer to the Lord we also requests some benediction.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

PURPORT (continued)

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:

COMMENT

If you know this verse, you can chant with me.

PURPORT (continued)

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, who was acting as a pure devotee Himself, shows us that when we pray to the Lord, we ask for some benediction. So, in the verse we just recited, what is the benediction that we ask for? Yes, Khushi?

Devotee: Lord Krishna should pick us from the ocean of birth and death.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that Krishna should pick Him up from the ocean of birth and death and place Him as one of the atoms at His lotus feet. And who can think of another prayer in the Śikṣāṣṭakam in which Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asks for a benediction from Krishna?

PURPORT (continued)

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,” but that’s really to engage in devotional service. Because here, He says, “I only want to serve You birth after birth,” mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi, “That’s all I want, I want bhakti,” ahaitukī bhakti, “Without any cause, without any motive, just to serve You.”

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 hands. My dear devotees, you are too pure; you don’t think about envious people. Yes?

Devotee: Snake. 

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

Devotee: The envious person.

Giriraj Swami:

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.

COMMENT

The next paragraph raises a very interesting question.        

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

I have heard, I don’t know if it’s true but I suppose it’s true because I’ve heard it from a reliable source, that the young people today are very disturbed by the election campaign. They have been very, very discouraged by the election campaign 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. So, in other words, we do need the change, but that change can be effective only with a change of consciousness. Otherwise, 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 plea of national security. And then, there was a period in which everyone was flattering her because they had no choice, and it sort of went to her head that people like 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 place 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. That may not apply to the present Prime Minister, I do reserve judgment, but often that’s the case; that there is really no choice because we are just dealing with khalah—enviousness, that’s what Srila Prabhupada says, almost everyone.

So, the solution is if the Krishna consciousness movement spreads all over the world and if by the grace of Krishna everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others. 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.” Externally, they are saying they will do better service, but internally, they are thinking how they can exploit it. “I will do better service to the people,” but they are thinking, I will do pretty good for myself if I become the president. But I don’t need to focus on any particular class of people. Maybe it’s the influence of the neighborhood, but it’s true everywhere, but the real solution wherever is Krishna consciousness, then 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 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.

COMMENT

Like Prahlada Maharaja, like Srila Prabhupada.

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’s why we have the temple here, that’s 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 bring peace to the world. That’s the only motive; there is no other motive; it’s just to give people a chance to become Krishna conscious.

And so, the devotees are so selfless, it must take a lot of effort to get the architectural drawings made and then get the permits from the government and organize all the materials and all the contractors and organizing the funds, so it’s a lot of effort, a lot of endeavor. But that is the merciful nature of a Vaishnava who wants to do good for others by spreading Krishna consciousness, and this is how.

In Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada was living in a grass hut and the disciples built a nice building with marble floors, and Srila Prabhupada, he 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 the answers, “I am not moving to that big building that’s in the raja-guṇa—mode of passion, I like my grass hut, it is in sattva-guṇa.” 

Then finally, one of the disciples said, “Well, Srila Prabhupada, if you just stay in 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’s 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.

COMMENT

It’s impossible that the world will become vacant because everyone goes back to Godhead. Why?

PURPORT (continued)

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

You don’t have to worry about that. There are 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, who would do that?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “It’s like asking if everyone became rich, who would be the chauffeur to drive the rich men? Does anyone not want to become rich for fear that if everyone becomes rich then who will be the chauffeur to drive the rich men?” 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 think it was in Dallas or Houston. I was at an event with His Holiness Radhanath Swami, he told the story that he was asked to deliver a talk at a school of accountants. And he gave his talk, and then one of the students got up and said, “I completely disagree with everything you have said; what you have said is completely wrong and I’m totally against what you said, and you are just cheating people and you should not say these things,” and he stood up. And all the other students cheered and applauded, and he said, “The reason what you are saying is wrong, and why I am so against it is if everyone became a devotee, who would till the fields, who would do this, who would do that? The whole world would come to a stop.”

So, as Radhanath Swami describes, really on the spot, he said a little prayer to Krishna, “How do I respond to this?” And then he got an answer. And then he said, “What if everyone in the world became an accountant? Who would till the fields, who would work in the factories, 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 that rejects 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 to engage them in devotional service. And so, our devotees here, following that same line of Prahlada Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada, are trying to build this temple and promote so many activities like book distribution so that people can become calm and peaceful and happy in Krishna consciousness and go back to Godhead. 

This is the fiftieth anniversary of Srila Prabhupada founding ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, very significant. This is the fortieth anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to this very temple, he saw this same Deity, the Gaura-Nitai.

Jaya! Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

You are sitting in the same room that Srila Prabhupada was in forty years ago. This is a holy place; his energy is still here inspiring all of the devotees.

So, thank you very much. To exemplify what we have been talking about, we will chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in unison.

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 00:48:17].

Giriraj Swami: I will repeat it; I won’t be able to quote the Sanskrit, but it was a very nice shloka that he learned in school from Hitopadeśa. 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, it is highlighting the dangerous, poisonous effects of envious people.

Any other additions?

Devotee: Should devotees go to Khumba-mela?

Giriraj Swami: Should devotees go to Khumba-mela? Well, it depends on their motive; but if they are going to preach Krishna consciousness, it could be a good opportunity. Srila Prabhupada went both times, meaning he returned to India in late 1970, so he went in 1971 to the Ardh Khumba-mela. And then it just so happened that 1977 was Maha Khumba-mela. Every twelve years is full Khumba-mela, and every twelve Khumba-melas, that’s every 144 years, is Maha Khumba-mela. So, that was in 1977, and he said that his only real interest in going is to preach.

Any other questions or comments? Yes, [Unintelligible 00:51:25]?

Devotee: So, this envy, some of it very deeply rooted in the heart. How can we root it out?

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; I won’t give the context, but he said that. 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 if we have knowledge and we don’t share it with others, we become envious, because 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’s envy. Of course, we might think, They might not want to hear what I have to say, and that could be the case, but still, we have to find the ways that we can say it.

Once, I asked Srila Prabhupada about envy. I had 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 had been thinking about it.

And so, the different reasons I thought of included that Krishna is unlimited, so Krishna’s service is unlimited. So, if some other devotee does some service, it doesn’t mean that my chances of doing service have 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 tried to control it and not act upon it, but still, it would somehow create some subtle disturbance in my relationship. So, that was another reason not to be obvious.

And I felt unhappy with myself and I didn’t like the feeling of having envy in my heart because I felt it and it was disturbing, you could say a contamination, it was a problem. 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.”

And 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 difficulties for devotees.” So, that was the answer to me when I asked. And that doesn’t refer to something uncontrolled, but it is channeling that energy into improving the world. That’s really what it comes to.

One other nice example I think of sometimes is when someone is over you and you are holding on to their feet, so if you have envy, 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, you push them up and it means you are also going up.

Devotee: Maharaja, how do we deal with these emotions, 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 is consulting with their spiritual master, getting some personal 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 or whatever?

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

Any other questions or comments? Oh, yes sir? What is your name?

Devotee: My name is Shiva.

Giriraj Swami: Shiva, that’s auspicious.

Devotee: What do you do when a person is envious of you and mistreats you for it? How do you treat them in a way that would be good?

Giriraj Swami: Well, that’s actually a good question. The Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that if you don’t have anything, then people won’t be envious of you. So, it’s good not to have anything for yourself; if whatever you have is for Krishna, even then some people might be envious, but it’s different because you will be detached. And a lot of the time it works to 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, I suggest 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,” “Yes, you are right,” just smile and just agree with everything. And then you go to the temple anyway, but you won’t have that friction.

And it’s even in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; in one of the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 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 way of life. So, as we progress in Krishna consciousness, we become more aware of our own anarthas.

As my godbrother Bhurijana Prabhu who conducts many japa retreats says, when you really go deep in japa and you see how much dirt is there and how bad you are, then when someone else criticizes you, you think, If he only knew what I am really like, he would be saying much worse things about me. But he doesn’t really know, so this is like maya.

Another thing Srila Prabhupada said is that we see things as a result of our own past activities, karma. He said, “Never be angry at the instrument of your karma.” If you think that the other person is doing it, then you become 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, and sometimes it happens.

I have many of my own stories, but I could quote one from His Holiness Niranjana Swami. So, this was in the early days, and he was, I think, he was saṅkīrtana leader and was going out all week distributing books from morning till night, and for some reason, the temple president was always speaking bad things about him. It was really disturbing to him and this went on, whenever he would come to the Boston temple, the temple president would just really say horrible things about him.

So, one time, a verse came up about envy and Niranjana Swami had to give a class on that verse. It wasn’t exactly about envy, it was about tolerating insults, and that completely fit the situation that he was experiencing. And so, as he was giving that class, he was getting so many realizations and he felt that internally, he was being caressed, embraced, he was just experiencing the nectar. 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, that external harassment or pressure that’s been put on us can be relieved. 

I heard a nice phrase just earlier today, that sometimes in the circle of devotees, devotees will take something that Prabhupada said and use it as an instrument to defeat another devotee or put another devotee down. And to really understand what Prabhupada was, you can’t just take one quote, you have to see the whole body of what Prabhupada said on the subject and understand the context in which he said it and then try to understand how Prabhupada would deal with certain situations. So, it’s like children having, Prabhupada said,  a snowball fight.

Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: Maharaja,  [Unintelligible 00:09:10].

Giriraj Swami: Oh, yes. Well, that’s a good point in relation to that question, what if everyone became a devotee who will till the fields etc. Being a devotee doesn’t really mean that you don’t work in the fields or in the factory. Our eternal occupation is to serve Krishna, but you can do that acting as a farmer or acting as a businessman or doing anything. So, in that sense, it’s not even true that if everyone became a devotee there wouldn’t be anyone to till the fields or work in the factories.

Devotee: About the books…

Giriraj Swami: So, there are three books. The first is called Watering the Seed, and the title comes from Lord Chaitanya’s instructions to Rupa Gosvami, bhakti-latā-bīja, “You take the seed of devotion and you plant it in the water.” It’s like planting and caring about Krishna. And so many exchanges between me and Srila Prabhupada and talks on different topics—there is one called Pure Servant, Pure Master. It’s about that exchange between Prahlada Maharaja and Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva.

And this one is called Many Moons. And of course, there is a saying; if a long time passes, you say many moons; I heard it the other day, “It has been many moons since I saw you.”

So, that’s one meaning, but there is a deeper meaning, if you will, is that Srila Prabhupada recalled a verse from Chanakya, that one moon can light up the darkness of the night more than thousands of little stars. And so, Srila Prabhupada would often say that he doesn’t want thousands of chief disciples like twinkling stars that don’t really shed any light, but he wanted one moon. And 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 in particular is about nine followers of Srila Prabhupada who left their bodies. First is Jayananda Prabhu, then His Holiness Gaura Govinda Swami Maharaja, Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, Śrīdhara Swami Maharaja, Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaja, Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja, and then there were three grand disciples. One was initiated by me, Mother Archa Vigraha, she was a European lady from South Africa and she passed away in Vrindavan. And it was actually her dying wish that there should be a hospice in Vrindavan, that led to the Bhaktivedanta hospice. And then Mother Kirtida, she was a disciple of Tamal Krishna Goswami, who was also from South Africa but of Indian origin, and she left her body in Dallas. And then a wonderful devotee named Aviram Thakura, he was Bengali from West Pakistan.

So, I would go there and he was very sweet; he was a very rare person because he was exemplary, very detached as a grihastha and then as a vanaprastha.

And this one has a forward written by His Holiness Radhanath Swami, and this one has a forward written by Bhakti Bringa Govinda Swami.

And this is Life’s Final Exam; there is a verse; who can guess what is life’s final exam? So, there is a Bengali verse, sadhana karo, bhajana karo. Whatever sadhana, 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’s why it is so important to chant and hear with attention, not just externally making a show.

Srila Prabhupada gave the example that a parrot can learn to say Hare Krishna. It says the word Hare Krishna, but if a cat attacks that parrot, there is no Hare Krishna. 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, it says, “Kah, Kha.” It has to be from the heart, so that when death comes, that shuts in our heart and then it will come out.

But this has many elements to it; there is the cultural aspect, the philosophical aspect, there is the story of the hospice, and then there is testimonies of devotees who took care of other devotees who were dying; not only taking care of devotees, but even taking care of other relatives.

There is one, Kesava Bharati dasa Goswami, he took care of his mother who was a Christian and then in the end, she became a devotee. 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 Kaushalya, the father-in-law was an atheist and they would have talks. But he was an atheist because he didn’t really listen to anything, but somehow at the end; within the last two weeks, he became a theist. He didn’t become a devotee, he didn’t become a Christian, but he became a theist.

And so, these stories are very instructive on how to help a dying person physically also, and emotionally also, but especially, spiritually. And then, there are pieces by devotees who were confronted by death. But there is one devotee. She was in the Merrill Lynch building right across from the World Trade Center on 9–11. She saw the plane fly into the building, but the first time, they thought there was some mistake. Then, she saw the second one; and she was seeing people jumping out of windows and slapping their arms and trying to not really fly but [Unintelligible 01:19:14]. There were just flames everywhere, but somehow, in the midst of all of that, it went on. She had some very deep realizations about Krishna consciousness.

And then, there is something adapted Bhakti Tirtha Swami when he was going through the process of dying. So, there are many, many, many wonderful pieces in this. 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 that each book is special; the set of all three is fifty dollars and we take credit cards. So, I will stay here and sign the books. So, thank you for asking.