BG 9.4–5; SB 10.2.7–8 – Balarama Purnima

Giriraj Swami: We welcome you on the auspicious occasion of Sri Balarama Purnima. The appearance day of Lord Balarama. According to tattva or transcendental existence, Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead. He is the origin of everything – janmādy asya yataḥ and Balarama is His first expansion. So, all the other incarnations of Godhead are expanded from Lord Balarama. But in terms of līlā, Lord Balarama appeared first before Krishna and therefore He is the older brother of Krishna.

Whenever I think of him, I think of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, who is also not only my older brother but he was the older brother of almost everyone in ISKCON. And he was happy to be the older brother. So, the main relationship or rasa between Krishna and Balarama is fraternal. Fraternal – friendly relationship. But because Balarama is the older brother there is also an element of a parental relationship. Where parent protects the child, the older brother also protects the younger brother. And because everyone in existence is the servant of Krishna, Balarama also has that mood of service. So, there is also that element of dāsya-rasa. Lord Balarama wanted to serve Krishna in every relationship. But there was one that he could not have in the form of Balarama, and that is mādhurya-rasa, the conjugal relationship. And to fulfill His desire to serve Krishna in mādhurya-rasa, He took the form of Anaṅga-mañjarī, who is Srimati Radharani’s younger sister and serve Krishna in that way, in the form of Anaṅga-mañjarī.

So, for this morning’s discussion, I have chosen a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that explains how Lord Krishna arranged for Balarama to take birth from the womb of mother Rohini. Now, to give a little historical background, during this period, the king of the region, who is actually based in Mathura, was Kamsa, who was a very wicked tyrant, very evil tyrant. Very egoistic. And on the day of the wedding of his sister Devaki, he was driving her chariot, even demons have affection in a way. He was driving her on his chariot with her newly—wed husband Vasudeva. And he heard a voice from the sky saying, “You fool Kamsa, the eighth son of your sister is going to kill you.”

So, from that moment, Kamsa lived in fear of being killed by Devaki’s eighth son. But he was such a demon that he was ready to kill Devaki, his own sister, right then and there, on the spot. And Vasudeva, the husband, intervened and said, he gave many good arguments to Kamsa and ultimately, he said, “You are in danger from Devaki, only from her children. So, I will bring you each of her children as they take birth and you can kill them. At least let me save Devaki, my wife. And Vasudeva was so dutiful and true to his word, he did it. Every newborn baby, he delivered to Kamsa. And Kamsa mercilessly murdered each and every one of them. For six. So that left two. So, this is where we enter the story, the history.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

So, this section, I believe Text eight is written on the board. But to give a little background, I’ll read Text seven. And it’s important to note of course, that although Krishna had not appeared in the world, He still existed as the everlasting Supreme Personality of Godhead and He was directing the whole, all the arrangements for Lord Balarama to appear. So, I’ll read Text seven. So, in this verse, in this section actually, Krishna is addressing a personality named yoga-māyā. Yoga-māyā is the spiritual energy of Krishna who makes arrangements for Him. Of Course, we know the term maya, meaning illusion. That’s mahā-māyā, but Krishna has another energy called yoga-māyā and she makes arrangements for Him. And she has many roles in Krishna’s pastimes. In her personified form, she is Paurnamasi and mahā-māyā’s function is to make us forget Krishna, to conceal Krishna from the conditioned souls, rebellious souls. And yoga-māyā partially reveals and partially conceals. By her influence, the residents of Vrindavan love Krishna but they are not aware that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She arranges that they just see Him as the most beautiful son of Nanda Maharaja, the supreme lovable object. So, in Text seven, I’ll just read the translation and purport

TRANSLATION

The Lord ordered Yoga-māyā: O My potency, who are worshipable for the entire world and whose nature is to bestow good fortune upon all living entities, go to Vraja, where there live many cowherd men with their wives. In that very beautiful land, where many cows reside. . .

COMMENT

Actually, we have many pictures of Vraja on the walls here, you can see many cows. Beautiful place.

TRANSLATION

In that very beautiful land, where many cows reside, Rohiṇī, the wife of Vasudeva, is living at the home of Nanda Mahārāja. Other wives of Vasudeva are also living there incognito. . .

COMMENT

Means in disguise

TRANSLATION

Because of fear of Kaṁsa. Please go there.

COMMENT

So, it was the tradition that a kshatriya could marry more than one wife. Of course, he’d have to have the ability to maintain his wives and protect them and satisfy them. So, one wife was Devaki, his first. And another was Rohini, and she was sent to Vraja to take shelter there to avoid the atrocities of Kamsa. So now we come to Text eight. Please repeat.

TEXT 8

devakyā jaṭhare garbhaṁ

śeṣākhyaṁ dhāma māmakam

tat sannikṛṣya rohiṇyā

udare sanniveśaya

TRANSLATION

Within the womb of Devakī is My partial plenary expansion known as Saṅkarṣaṇa or Śeṣa. Without difficulty, transfer Him into the womb of Rohiṇī.

COMMENT

Purport by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The first plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa is Baladeva, also known as Śeṣa. The Śeṣa incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead supports the entire universe, and the eternal mother of this incarnation is mother Rohiṇī. “Because I am going into the womb of Devakī,” the Lord told Yoga-māyā, “the Śeṣa incarnation has already gone there and made suitable arrangements so that I may live there. Now He should enter the womb of Rohiṇī, His eternal mother.”

COMMENT

So Śeṣa, who is Balarama, performs all sorts of services for Krishna, makes all kinds of arrangements. And He expands Himself as Krishna’s slippers, as Krishna’s bed, as Krishna’s sacred thread. Those are all expansions of Balarama. So, He first entered the womb of Devaki to make all arrangements for Krishna. We often see pictures of Lord Vishnu and Śeṣa is His bed and we see Śeṣa’s hoods over the head of Vishnu.

But one thing which is very important which I didn’t mention is that, Krishna or any of the others was not conceived in the usual way that a husband and wife conceive children. That is described in the Bhāgavatam. That Krishna first appeared in the mind of Vasudeva. Now Krishna will only appear in a place that’s completely pure and Vasudeva’s mind was completely pure. And Vasudeva transferred Krishna from his mind to the mind of Devaki. And in the purport, Srila Prabhupada comments that this is the process of dīkṣā by which Krishna is transferred from the guru to the disciple.

But it’s part of the līlā, Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan especially are called nara-līlā, human-like pastimes. So, to fit within the conception of humanlike pastimes, He then entered her womb and she appeared to be pregnant like any mother and then He came out. But when He came out of the womb, He manifested His four-armed Vishnu form to convince her, to convince Devaki and Vasudeva that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And then He converted Himself into a baby form and out of maternal affection, although Vasudeva and Devaki knew that He was Vishnu, the Lord Almighty, but out of parental affection they were afraid that Kamsa will kill Him just as he had killed the first six children and so they wanted to take Him to some safe place. And miraculously, [Oh, that’s another thing I didn’t mention, that] Kamsa imprisoned Vasudeva and Devaki because he had been told that Vasudeva’s eighth son would kill him. So just to keep a watch on them, he put them in prison.

But anyway, the prison doors miraculously opened by Krishna’s will and Vasudeva carried Krishna from Kamas’s prison in Mathura to Gokula, Vrindavan. And there Yasoda had given birth to a baby girl. And Kṛṣṇa book says that she was so exhausted from her childbirth that she wasn’t aware whether it was a boy or a girl. So, Vasudeva exchanged Krishna for the baby girl. But there is also a mystery to that which we won’t discuss now in detail, but Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura as quoted by Srila Prabhupada has pointed out various verses in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and even in other scriptures to prove that Yasoda actually had twins – a boy and a girl. So, the Krishna that Vasudeva brought from Mathura merged into the male child of Yasoda, who was Krishna and so Vasudeva took back the daughter. So, coming back to this purport;

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord told Yoga-māyā, “the Śeṣa incarnation has already gone there and made suitable arrangements so that I may live there. Now He should enter the womb of Rohiṇī, His eternal mother.”

COMMENT

So uptill now, Balarama has been in the womb of Devaki in Mathura.

PURPORT (continued)

In this connection, one may ask how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always situated transcendentally, could enter the womb of Devakī, which had previously been entered by the six asuras, the ṣaḍ-garbhas. Does this mean that the ṣaḍ-garbhāsuras were equal to the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

COMMENT

Now there is a history to these six sons of Devaki who were killed by Kamsa. In this purport, Srila Prabhupada refers to them as asuras. And there is a very interesting and instructive history to them. They had been, the purport, I am giving you the purport in the beginning because this history was related by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It’s recorded in Sri Caitanya-bhāgavata on the topic of vaiṣṇava-aparādha, how serious it is an offense to commit vaiṣṇava-aparādha and how severe the reactions can be. So, these six were sons of Brahma, and there was a pastime when Lord Brahma became lusty for his daughter and began to chase her. This is another intricate story but the point here is that when these six sons of Brahma saw their father chasing after his daughter, they laughed at him. And they mocked him. As a result of that vaiṣṇava-aparādha, they had to take birth as these six asuras in the womb of Devaki and be killed by Kamsa. And the whole conclusion of that, why Lord Chaitanya told, that story was just to warn devotees about the serious effects of vaiṣṇava-aparādha. That’s the idea there. Now coming back to the prison house of Kamsa. Alright, so, Srila Prabhupada writes;

PURPORT (continued)

One may ask how the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always situated transcendentally, could enter the womb of Devakī, which had previously been entered by the six asuras, the ṣaḍ-garbhas. Does this mean that the ṣaḍ-garbhāsuras were equal to the transcendental body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The following answer is given by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.

COMMENT

He is one of our great acharyas in paramparā.

PURPORT (continued)

The entire creation, as well as its individual parts, is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

Where you are sitting right now on the floor or on the benches, is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everything. Everything we see here.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, even though the Lord enters the material world, He does not do so. This is explained by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (9.4–5):

māyā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni
paśya me yogam aiśvaram
bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho
mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities, and although I am everywhere, My Self is the very source of creation.”

COMMENT

So, this sounds very mysterious or contradictory, that everything is in Krishna but at the same time Krishna is aloof from everything. The explanation is that Krishna in His personal form as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in Goloka Vrindavan but His effulgence as the brahmajyoti pervades everywhere and everything is in that. And then He also expands Himself of course as the Paramātmā, the Supersoul. So, there are many mysteries and apparent contradictions. But here, Srila Prabhupada is emphasizing that Krishna is everywhere. Everything is an expansion of Krishna’s energy and Krishna is everywhere.

PURPORT (continued)

Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Everything is an expansion of Brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet everything is not the Supreme Godhead, and He is not everywhere. Everything rests upon Him and yet does not rest upon Him. This can be explained only through the acintya-bhedābheda philosophy.

COMMENT

That means inconceivably simultaneously one and different. There is a common aphorism, ‘aham brahmāsmi’—I am spirit. And some people take that to mean that ‘I am God.’ ‘aham brahmāsmi—I am God.’ At that time, Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India and Srila Prabhupada gave the example that – You may be a citizen of India and Indira Gandhi is also a citizen of India but that doesn’t make you the Prime Minister.

PURPORT (continued)

Such truths cannot be understood, however, unless one is a pure devotee, for the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: “One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service.” Even though the Lord cannot be understood by ordinary persons, this principle should be understood from the statement of the śāstra.

COMMENT

That is the fact that Krishna is everywhere but at the same time He is apart.

PURPORT (continued)

A pure devotee is always transcendentally situated because of executing nine different processes of bhakti-yoga (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaranaṁ pāda-sevanam/ arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam). Thus, situated in devotional service, a devotee, although in the material world, is not in the material world. Yet a devotee always fears, “Because I am associated with the material world, so many contaminations affect me.” Therefore, he is always alert in fear, which gradually diminishes his material association.

COMMENT

Once Srila Prabhupada gave a class at Bhaktivedanta Manor. And in the class, he said to the devotees, the audience that, “The difference between you and me is that you can fall down and I cannot.” After the class, Srila Prabhupada came before the Deities and was offering prayers and one disciple asked him what he was praying. And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I was praying that I may never fall down.” And the disciple said that, “But you said in the class that you can never fall down.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, because I am always praying that I may never fall down. Therefore, I can never fall down.” So, the idea is fear of maya. In fact, once Srila Prabhupada said that his only complaint about his disciples was that they were not sufficiently afraid of maya. So, this is part of being or becoming a pure devotee that we are afraid of maya, we are afraid of material association and contamination. So, just to reiterate –

PURPORT (continued)

Thus, situated in devotional service, a devotee, although in the material world, is not in the material world. Yet a devotee always fears, “Because I am associated with the material world, so many contaminations affect me.” Therefore, he is always alert in fear, which gradually diminishes his material association. Symbolically, mother Devakī’s constant fear of Kaṁsa was purifying her. A pure devotee should always fear material association. . .

COMMENT

Another thing Srila Prabhupada said that I considered very revealing. He said that whenever he enters a rich man’s home, he always prays that he may not be attracted to the person’s opulence. It’s just another manifestation of that prayerful mood – not to be affected by maya, which we should all have.

PURPORT (continued)

A pure devotee should always fear material association, and in this way all the asuras of material association will be killed, as the ṣaḍ-garbhāsuras were killed by Kaṁsa. It is said that from the mind, Marīci appears. In other words, Marīci is an incarnation of the mind. Marīci has six sons: Kāma, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Mātsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and envy).

COMMENT

So, these are products of the mind.

PURPORT (continued)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in pure devotional service. This is confirmed in the Vedas: bhaktir evainaṁ darśayati. Only bhakti can bring one in contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

Yeah, there is a wonderful verse spoken by Lord Krishna. nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe, I am not located in Vaikuntha. yogināṁ hṛdayeṣu vā, nor I am located in the hearts of the yogis but I am there wherever My devotees are chanting My glories. So, when we engage in devotional service; chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord, Krishna is present. And when Krishna is present, kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra. That Krishna is light like the Sun. kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama, Krishna is like the Sun. māyā haya andhakāra, and maya is like darkness. Wherever there is Krishna, there can be no maya.

PURPORT (continued)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in pure devotional service. This is confirmed in the Vedas: bhaktir evainaṁ darśayati. Only bhakti can bring one in contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared from the womb of Devakī, and therefore Devakī symbolically represents bhakti, and Kaṁsa symbolically represents material fear. When a pure devotee always fears material association, his real position of bhakti is manifested, and he naturally becomes uninterested in material enjoyment.

COMMENT

So generally, devotees are fearless. Srila Prabhupada’s name Abhay Charan—one who is fearless having taking shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna. But this is a different type of fear. This is a spiritual fear. It’s not bad, it’s actually good. It’s healthy and beneficial.

PURPORT (continued)

When a pure devotee always fears material association, his real position of bhakti is manifested, and he naturally becomes uninterested in material enjoyment. When the six sons of Marīci are killed by such fear and one is freed from material contamination, within the womb of bhakti the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears. Thus, the seventh pregnancy of Devakī signifies the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

That was Balarama, Saṅkarṣaṇa.

PURPORT (continued)

After the six sons Kama. . .

COMMENT

So, what’s the translation of kāma? [Devotees: answer—lust]. Krodha? [anger]. Lobha? [greed]. Moha? [illusion]. Mada? [madness]. Mātsarya? [envy] are killed.

PURPORT (continued)

After the six sons Kāma, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Mātsarya are killed, the Śeṣa incarnation creates a suitable situation for the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, when one awakens his natural Krishna consciousness, Lord Krishna appears. This is the explanation given by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.

COMMENT

So, the conclusion is that we should always be in touch with Krishna, in the association of Krishna by engaging in devotional service – śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ. And by associating with Krishna, we will be protected from the influence of maya. kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra. Wherever there is the Sun of Krishna, there cannot be the darkness of maya. But to stay in that safe position we have to be afraid of maya. And that fear will kill all these anarthas, kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, and so on. And to execute devotional service, we need the association of devotees. And therefore, a corollary to this instruction is that we should always remain in the association of devotees and engage in devotional activities. Now, it’s possible that even devotees can lapse into material thinking or even material activities. So when we are with devotees, we have to be with devotees, if we are not in the association of devotees, we can’t engage in the practice of bhakti-yoga. But even when we are with them, we have to be careful to keep our engagement and our consciousness spiritual and devotional.

Now sometimes, devotees come to us with their problems. And that’s not wrong. That’s natural. Depending on the situation you can also try to help them with their problems. But the ultimate solution is Krishna consciousness. Yesterday, I was speaking with a young man named Trevor, who I am glad to see here this morning. Trevor was lamenting the current state of the world. So, I quoted the peace formula. That the last verse of Chapter Five of the Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29—bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ. Krishna says bhoktāraṁ—I am the enjoyer. yajña-tapasāṁ—of all sacrifices and austerities. bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram—I am the proprietor of all the planetary systems. suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ—I am the best friend of all living entities and jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati—if someone understands this about Me, about Krishna, he will achieve peace from the pangs of material existence. So, it’s easy to see, okay we are not the enjoyers. And it’s also easy to see—we are not the proprietors. But what about being the well-wishing friend. Why can’t we be the well-wishing friend? Well, if we try to be the best friend independently, that is also imitating Krishna. We are trying to take Krishna’s position. We can be a sincere friend to someone if we direct them to Krishna, that Krishna is your real friend and that way we can be. But independently suppose, “I am your friend. I am your savior. I am your deliverer.” That’s imitating Krishna. So, we need the association of devotees. But we should keep our association with devotees as far as possible to the nine processes of devotional service and not lapse into habits that we might have had before we became devotees. And if someone comes to us with a problem. I am telling you a problem. Sometimes devotees come to us to complain about other devotees. And that can put us in an awkward situation.

And one technique which His Holiness Radhanath Swami taught me is that, when they come to you with their problems which often means complaints, you should invite them to chant and hear with you. That way they won’t feel that you are rejecting them as persons but at the same time, and again it depends on the person and the circumstance, but you won’t be dragged into something that won’t really be very beneficial for you or the other person. I could elaborate but it’s really a fact that if we give priority to Krishna, to Krishna consciousness, everything else will fall into place. As it is said that for one who accepts Lord Chaitanya, who always remembers Lord Chaitanya, difficult things become easy. And for people who forget Lord Chaitanya, otherwise easy things can become difficult. So, this should always be our goal. And to achieve that goal, we need the association of devotees. But we want to be careful that that association is what it’s meant to be, favorable to Krishna vonsciousness. And of course, the main process is to always chant the holy names –

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

Hare Krishna. So, are there any questions or comments?

Devotee (1): Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you for the wonderful class. I wanted to ask you, the six sons of Brahma that laughed at him and had to take birth and then be killed by Kamsa. Was their innate nature demoniac so that’s why they were laughing or they were basically pretty good, but they just made a mistake and they were laughing?

Giriraj Swami: (Laughing) Well, personally I don’t want to offend them also. So, I will say that they were probably good people but they just made a mistake.

Devotee (1): Because we are warned not to make offences but at the same time I was wondering if it’s just their nature and that’s why  they laughed, or should we be concerned that we make small mistakes like that. Is that something to think while we look at the reaction of something that might. . . If we are trying our best. . .

Giriraj Swami: Well, from that point of view, we have to be afraid. In fact, there is a very pertinent verse from Jada Bharata, in which he says, and he gives a whole list. I am not afraid of the trident of Lord Shiva, all these different things. I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not afraid. But the one thing I am afraid of is offending a brahman. So, we talk about being afraid of material existence and of all things we should be afraid of offending Vaishnavas or brahmans. And if we happen to, we can approach the person. There are remedies, we can approach the person and beg forgiveness. We should. There may be little offences that we commit just in our daily interactions with devotees. And one disciple said to Srila Prabhupada, “If I have to beg forgiveness from every devotee that I offend every time, I will end up spending my whole day begging forgiveness.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, those sorts of minor incidental offences, in the morning when you offer obeisances to the Vaishnavas, it’s built into the part of the morning program.” You are actually begging them to forgive you for any incidental minor offences.

Devotee (2): Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee (2): So, Maharaja can you explain how just by fearing the material association that the six asuras get killed?

Giriraj Swami: Well, the six asuras, lust, anger, greed, and so on, lust is the first. And from lust, the others follow. In fact, in Sanskrit there is a word for anger, which is called kāmānuja. Anuja means to follow. Like Ramanuja, younger brother of Rama is Lakshman. So, kāmānuja means that anger follows lust. When our lust is frustrated, we become angry. Greed is also similar. Although Srila Prabhupada said that in a way greed can be more troublesome than lust and anger because with lust and anger, you can sort of express it. And at least temporarily they will go away. But greed, it’s always there. You’ll never get relief from it. But being afraid of material association, that means being afraid of maya, and of all of these is maya, so if you are afraid of maya then these things disappear. Or even if some vestige of them remains, you just tolerate them, you don’t act upon them and eventually they go away. Does that answer your question? Sundari, did you have a question?

Devotee (3): Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you for your wonderful lecture. My question is about being afraid of maya. So, it was told to me by a devotee that, say, we are contaminated, if we come into contact with Tulasi-devi, that doesn’t contaminate her, she is a pure devotee. So, in a similar way, moving out of the ashram and kind of being in the world, there has been instances where I kind of see oh, the devastation of Kali. This is in my face right now, whatever this situation maybe. For example, being in a downtrodden neighborhood, oh wow, this is what the reality is in some places of the world. But is that what we should be afraid of? The exposure, does it necessarily contaminate us? Or is it more of can we keep purity even when being exposed to, I don’t want to say maya as much as of a kind of contaminated condition?

Giriraj Swami: That’s a very good point. Because if we are going to help others, we have to go into the, so to speak, material world. We have to associate with ordinary people. So, when we do that, and we are ordered to do that by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – yāre dekha, tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. We are ordered by Krishna. One who preaches this message is the dear most servant of Krishna. There will never be one more dear. And in the end devotional service is guaranteed and he will come back to Krishna. So that’s a very important question. That, in order to do this service, which is the best service, we have to go out into the material world or deal with materialistic people. And when we are doing that, we pray. It could be both, simultaneously, that we pray not to be affected by their association. And we also pray that our words may be suitable for their understanding. And we pray that Krishna in their heart will inspire them to accept His message. But we need strong friendships, friendly relations with devotees to come back to. Because it will, to some extent, weaken us, that association and that exposure. And so, we need loving relationships with devotees that we can come back to. That will nourish us. Because if we don’t have those, sometimes we might find someone out there, maybe this person could be my friend. You might think we can get something from someone who is not a devotee that we are not getting from the devotees. So, as devotees, we should try to satisfy the devotees so much that they don’t feel they have to look outside the association of devotees for society, friendship, and love. Does that address your question?

Devotee (3): Yes, thank you. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Alright, so what’s next? Does anyone know what’s next on the schedule, I know there is time.

Host: (unintelligible) at 10:30 we’ll have abhisheka. And after abhisheka, a small class on Lord Balarama again about the pastimes of Lord Balarama. Then at twelve o’clock the ārati and then at 12:30 or 12:45 we’ll have the feast in the next building across the way.

Giriraj Swami: Oh okay. So, there will be kirtan in the temple now?

Host: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Okay and did you say 10:30 is the abhisheka?

Host: Around 10:30

Giriraj Swami: around 10:30. Yeah, that’s safer. Yeah. Okay that’s good. That’s very good. Alright, thank you very much. I hope you have a wonderful Balarama- Purnima. Srila Prabhupada said if you have any problems, just place them at the feet of Lord Balarama and He will take care of them. Hare Krishna. Sri Balarama Purnima ki jaya.

Host: His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja ki jaya.

Devotees: Jaya!