The Glories of Srila Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji

Giriraj Swami: We are in the most auspicious month of Kartik, which is also known as Damodara. Just as there is a certain period of time in the day that is most auspicious for spiritual practices, which is known as brāhma-muhūrta and begins one hour and thirty-two minutes before sunrise, so there too is a month in the year that is most auspicious for spiritual practices, and that is the present month of Kartik, or Damodara.

It is said that the value of one’s spiritual practices performed during the month of Kartik is magnified one thousand times. So, you get a very good return for even a small investment. And today, we are entering into the last five days of Kartik, which is called Bhīṣma-pañcaka, and these five days are so auspicious, that it is said that whatever you do in these five days, it’s as if you had done it for the entire month of Kartik. So, we should take advantage of this month and these five days.

Today is also a special day, of course, it’s Ekādaśī, and it is the disappearance day of one of our acharyas or spiritual masters in the disciplic succession, namely Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja. You can see on the step of the altar, beneath Sri Sri Radha Giridhari, the five most recent acharyas in our line. So, to the far right, when we face the altar, is Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja, then Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja, whose disappearance is today, then his disciple, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and then his disciple, our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.

The first four were all living simultaneously. And because today is Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja’s disappearance day, we will focus on him. He was very renounced. In fact, each acharya has at least one praṇāma mantra, or a mantra offering respects to them and glorifying them. Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja, namo gaura-kisoraya saksad-vairagya-murtaye, “He is the personification of renunciation.” And when you hear about his renunciation, you will be astonished because it is wonderful and marvelous. Namo gaura-kisoraya saksad-vairagya-murtaye vipralambha-rasambudhe. Vipralambha means separation. Technically, there is some bhoga, which is union, and then vipralambha, which is separation.

In our line, coming from Sri Madhavendra Puri, Sri Isvara Puri, and especially Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, our line is very much in the mood of separation. And the underlying principle of separation is attachment. If you are attached to someone and they are absent, then you can feel separation. If there is no attachment, if there is no relationship, even if the person is absent, there is no feeling of separation. So, our whole process is to become attached to Krishna, and Krishna includes His devotees.

In fact, the first verse of the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā begins mayyāsakta-manāḥa pārtha. Āsakti means attachment. Mayyāsakta, “With your mind attached to Krishna.” And that verse, 7.1 of the Bhagavad-gītā, was the verse on which Srila Prabhupada spoke most frequently. So, we want to become attached to Krishna, and Krishna, as explained especially in The Nectar of Devotion or the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, includes all of His expansions and entourage, His devotees.

Namo gaura-kisoraya saksad-vairagya-murtaye vipralambha-rasambudhe padambujaya te namah. We offer our obeisances unto his lotus feet. Gaurakishora dasa Babaji was living in Vrindavan, very renounced, he hardly cared for eating or sleeping, and he would roam the twelve forests of Vrindavan in his mood of ecstatic love for Radha and Krishna.

Now, at that time or leading up to that time, there was no clear recognition of the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura did research of old maps and he consulted local people to try to determine the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is actually Krishna Himself, the incarnation of Krishna in playing the part of a devotee in the present age of Kali. So, he determined the birthplace, and to confirm his reckoning, Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja was brought to the site. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura determined the site, and when he went there, he found there was a mound of earth with profuse tulasi trees growing, tulasi bushes.

Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja was very old, about 120. In fact, it is said that he was remaining alive, he was just waiting for Bhaktivinoda to come so he could impart his knowledge, his realization, to Bhaktivinoda Thakura. So, Babaji Maharaja’s disciple brought him to the site, they didn’t say anything, they carried him in a basket palanquin. But when he got to that site, he spontaneously jumped up and started to dance in ecstasy because he could feel this was the place.

So, Gaurakishora dasa Babaji was in Vrindavan, but when Bhaktivinoda Thakura determined the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Mayapur, Jagannatha dasa Babaji, who was the guru of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, śikṣā-guru, he was the main guru of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, which would make him the param guru of Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji, advised Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja that he should move from Vrindavan to Mayapur, to Navadvipa, which he did.

Gaurakishora dasa Babaji lived on the banks of the Ganges. I mean, he was so renounced, as I mentioned, that he would just sleep on the ground. For food, he might get some rice that he would just parch in the sun, just whatever. And sometimes, if there is nothing else, he would take some mud from the Ganges and ingest that. He was so renounced. For cloth, he picked up whatever cloth was lying in the street, or he would go to the crematorium and pick up rejected cloth from the crematorium, and that was what he would wear. That was externally, but internally, he was absorbed in loving mellows of Radha and Krishna.

Now, another feature of Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja is that he was not educated. It is said that he was illiterate, but he might not have been completely illiterate, but he was uneducated. It’s said that he couldn’t even sign his own name. But because of his advanced realizations in Krishna consciousness, even learned scholars would approach him with difficult passages in the shastra and he would explain the significance and meaning. And sometimes people would come and read to him from the shastra, and he would deliver very, you could say, learned discourses. Scholars and public servants would approach him with their questions.

It’s also common. . . I mean, I say India because the context of Gaurakishora dasa Babaji was India, but it’s probably true everywhere, in every tradition, that people want material benefit. But let’s take India, they want asharvat, they want material blessings. Just today. . . I mean, not to point out anyone in particular, today I received a letter from a seventeen-year-old boy in Mumbai who’s going to be taking some very difficult and important exams. So, guess what? He asked for my blessings.

So, people can approach saintly persons with all sorts of desires, material desires, and especially Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja was such a renowned saintly person that many people were approaching him with those material desires. And he had no interest in giving these material asharvat or meeting with these materialistic people.

To discourage them from approaching him, he set up his residence, if you want to call it, near a municipal lavatory, which discouraged people, it strongly discouraged people from coming to him with their material demands, so he would be engaged in chanting.

Now, his close friend was Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and in fact, Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja a place to stay near his home, on the grounds of his home in Navadvipa, in Godruma-dvipa. If you go on pilgrimage or parikramā, you can see all that at Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s home in Godruma-dvipa.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s son, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, was not just a learned scholar, but an extraordinarily brilliant person. He had a photographic memory, that means if he read something once, he would remember all of it. When he was in school, he read all the books in the school library and memorized them all, so they had to buy new books just for him, to give him something to read. At the age of twenty-five, he compiled a treatise on astronomy or astrology called Surya Siddhanta, and in recognition of that work, he was given the name Siddhanta Sarasvati. He was brilliant, and Gaurakishora dasa Babaji was uneducated, almost illiterate.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura was the first instructor of his son, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, but it is the rule, the etiquette, that the father doesn’t give dīkṣā to his son. I think it’s sort of like the rule that a doctor doesn’t perform an operation on his wife or his kin. My uncle, Joe Teton, was an obstetrician, and he said he delivered half or more of the babies on the whole north shore of Chicago where he and I lived, but he didn’t deliver his own children.

So, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, of course, instructed his son in the science of bhakti, but he wouldn’t give him dīkṣā. And he instructed him that he should take dīkṣā from Gaurakishora dasa Babaji, the illiterate fool. So, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. . . I mean, he didn’t really have that name then, but still, he approached Gaurakishora dasa Babaji, and Babaji Maharaja indirectly refused him. He put him off and said, “Well, I’m not accepting any disciples, so I have to ask Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.”

So, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati went back and reported to his father, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and Bhaktivinoda Thakura was not happy. He said, “You go back, you have to get his mercy.” So, he went back, again, he approached him, and again, Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja put him off. He said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to ask Mahaprabhu.” Again, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati returned home, and this time, Bhaktivinoda Thakura was really upset because Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja was a mahā-bhāgavata, on the highest platform of devotees. He could understand what was in his prospective disciple’s heart, maybe there was some pride. I mean, at least later, that’s how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura presented it, that he had some pride within his heart on account of being such a learned scholar, and therefore, Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja was rejecting him.

So, after having failed twice, Bhaktivinoda Thakura told him, “You go again, and you beg for his mercy. If you don’t get his mercy, don’t come home, don’t bother coming home.” So, at that stage, Sarasvati Thakura was genuinely humbled. So, he went towards the Ganges, and he was in the mood that if Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja didn’t accept him, he would just throw himself in the Ganges and drown himself. Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja could understand his heart, so he accepted him, and he became the only disciple of Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja because Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja was very renounced, he was very humble, and he didn’t accept disciples. But he did make one exception for Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

So, Gaurakishora dasa Babaji considered Calcutta to be a bastion of Kali-yuga. Bastion means. . . What does bastion mean?

Devotee: A stronghold.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, that’s it, a stronghold or a fortress. So, he told him, “Never go to Calcutta.” Now, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, as Srila Prabhupada says, underwent severe austerities to start this movement. He took a vow to chant one billion holy names. I mean, sixty-four rounds is 100,000 and. . . Anyway, someone can do the calculation, but a billion, that’s a lot, it’s years of chanting. Nine years. Nine years of chanting how much a day?

Devotee: Three lakhs, three hundred.

Giriraj Swami: Right. Haridasa Thakura, he would chant three lakhs a day, that’s sixty-four rounds, times three, that’s a lot. A billion holy names is nine years of three lakhs every day. And he was also a bustier, he would just boil some simple rice or even like his Guru Maharaja, he parch some rice in the sun. He had a little hut in Mayapur where he would just chant. And if it rained, because rain would come through the roof of the hut, he would just sit under an umbrella chanting his billion names. But after he completed his billion names, he was ready to come out and preach, and that meant to go to Calcutta.

In one talk that Srila Prabhupada gave at the Ardha Khumba-mela in Allahabad in 1971, I happened to be present, he said that Gaurakishora dasa Babaji had ordered his Guru Maharaja never to go to Calcutta, but everyone knows he went. Does that mean that he disobeyed the order of his Guru Maharaja? Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, because he was not in Calcutta, he was always in Vaikuntha.”

So eventually, Gaurakishora dasa Babaji. . . There is more, of course, and His Holiness Bhakti Vikasa Swami Maharaja has compiled a wonderful set of three volumes called Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava focused on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, but within that is naturally quite a bit about Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja as well.

In fact, there was one little story from that book. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was on a ship, and someone on the ship asked him about his Guru Maharaja, something like, “You don’t speak about your Guru Maharaja so much.” So, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura pointed down to where the ship’s engine was propelling the boat, and he said, “That might be true, but actually, my Guru Maharaja is the engine that is propelling me. Whatever I’m doing is on the power of my Guru Maharaja.”

So, when Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja passed away, there was a lot of controversy about who would get possession of his body because people thought if they get the body, if they have his samadhi, then people will come, they’ll get more visitors and maybe more income. And another thing is that Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja said that after he leaves his body, he wants his body to be dragged through the streets of Navadvipa, which of course, is a very humble thing to say. He wanted his body to be dragged through the dust upon which the pilgrims to the holy dhāma had walked.

So, when Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura heard that his Guru Maharaja had passed away, he rushed to the site. The body was there and people were arguing over who was going to take possession of the body and what to do with it. So, he said, “I’m the only disciple of Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja, so I will take possession of the body.” They said, “But he was a renunciant, you are not a sannyasi.” And Sarasvati Thakura replied, “I may not be a sannyasi, but I’ve been celibate from birth.” Then he said, “Who among you can say that you have been celibate even for the last year?” No one volunteered. He said, “The last three months?” No one volunteered. “The last one month?” No one volunteered. “The last one week?” No one volunteered. “In the last three days?” They were all sort of humbled or humiliated, and they all just walked away.

But then, there was still the question that Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja asked that his body should be dragged through the streets. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, “We have to understand this in the proper perspective,” and he gave the example of Haridasa Thakura, who was also very humble, and how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lifted up his body, carried his body, and danced with his body. He said, “We shall carry the body of Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja on our heads.” So, he took the body, and then he placed it in samadhi on the Western side of the Ganges, the other side from Mayapur.

But in the course of time, the course of the Ganges changed and the site of the samadhi threatened to be washed away. So, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura took the sacred remains of his spiritual master and brought it across to his Matha. And at his Matha, he sort of, in a way, recreated Vrindavan. He has a little. . . I mean, it’s not that little, but a little Govardhana Hill with govardhana-śilās. I mean, only someone with the potency of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, hardly anyone, could do that.

I mean, it’s said that if you take a stone, or śilā, from Govardhana Hill, you must leave an equal amount of gold. It’s not a cheap thing where you just go to Govardhana and say, “Oh, I like that one, I need one” and fill your pockets with śilās. But anyway, he had that potency, it’s hard to describe how big it is, but it was I think maybe the width of two of these arches, and the length was maybe three quarters of the temple, but pretty big. And he had a Radha-kunda and a Syama-kunda that he made, ponds. So, he brought the remains of Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja, and quite appropriately, put them in a samadhi near Radha-kunda. Even today, if you go to Mayapur on parikramā and you go to Sri Chaitanya Matha, you can see that and pray to him.

So, I always consider this day important in a personal way because our main practice is to chant the holy names. One year on this occasion, in Dallas, actually, I was praying to Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji Maharaja to help me with my chanting, and the answer I got from him, or the answer I imagined I got from him was, “You have to chant attentively.” I said, “Well, how do I do that?” He said, “Well, you have to practice.”

Now, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in his Hari-nāma Cintāmaṇi book about the holy names, he says that attentive chanting will destroy all the other offenses, ten offenses. And on the other hand, inattentive chanting will allow the other nine offenses to flourish. So, that’s a challenge that we all face, to chant attentively.

So, many devotees have had japa retreats, japa weekends. We had one here in San Diego some years ago. Because it really makes a huge difference when you chant attentively. His Grace Bhurijana Prabhu, my godbrother, says that he remembers the first time he heard the Hare Krishna mantra, he remembers exactly when and where it was, in Hong Kong, Tokyo. He said that he had been chanting sixteen rounds for two years before he heard it. And then he said, “Oh, that’s why they say you have to hear, because it’s a whole different experience.”

So, as we’ve been discussing in relation to the dāmodara-līlā, Krishna was bound by the combination of two things. The ropes were always the width of two fingers too short. No matter how many ropes mother Yasoda brought, they were still two fingers too short. But eventually, Krishna, seeing her hard endeavor, became merciful to her and allowed her to bind Him. There are two words in that verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One is pariśrama, which means hard labor, and the other is kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, which means Krishna’s mercy. So, when these two meet, our strenuous endeavor and Krishna’s mercy, Krishna is bound. Somehow, we are trying to, in a way, bind Krishna, trying to capture Krishna. I mean, in a way, we are really trying to capture our minds, but we are trying to capture Krishna in our mind or in our heart.

So, it’s that same combination, our endeavor and Krishna’s mercy. We have to make that endeavor, and at the same time, pray for Krishna’s mercy, which comes through paramparā. And of course, rising early in the morning and chanting during brāhma-muhūrta, or the early hours before you get involved in your day’s activity, that’s very good.

Chanting with other devotees is good, especially devotees who have taste, that’s very good, but even other devotees, because if we chant alone, it’s very tempting to check our smartphones and see what emails have come, what text messages have come, what the latest news is. So, it’s good to have people around.

I mean, that’s sort of the one side of it. The other side is they elevate your consciousness while you are chanting. And I’ve experienced this so much. Sometimes I have godbrothers stay with me at my small ashram in Carpinteria near Santa Barbara. I would be chanting and then. . . It happened this one time that His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami came in and we were chatting together. So, immediately, I could feel my chanting was elevated, it was void up.

Then, at that time. . . I don’t remember which because once it happened with Giridhari Swami and once it happened with Jayadvaita Swami, but let’s say Jayadvaita Swami. Then he came in and we were chanting with him, and then our consciousness became still more elevated. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakura recommends that, to chant with devotees who have taste, or faith. Well, taste is just a further development of faith. And not to be distracted. He even recommends that if you can’t stop from being distracted, you should put a towel over your head so you can’t see anything. This is serious, it’s not a joke to chant the holy name. They are chanting and it’s one-handed chanting, “Oh, let’s do a little bit on the computer,” “Oh, that’s so dusty, okay, let’s clean that up,” “Oh, how did that get there?” But we should be totally focused when we chant.

I mean, even doing everything we can externally, we still have to deal with the mind, but at least, we should make the external arrangements favorable, and then try to chant. That’s the clearing stage. There are three stages in chanting. The first is the offensive stage where you commit offenses, and again, inattention is a critical one. At least if you try to chant attentively, you are removing that offense, and removing that offense will remove the others. Yeah, just practice, Srila Prabhupada said that practice makes perfect, even in spiritual life.

It’s serious. Chanting in front of tulasi is very good. If you can’t chant in the temple, as far as possible, you should all have tulasi plants to chant in front of tulasi. That was Haridasa Thakura’s program, just chant in front of tulasi and pray for mercy, pariśrama and kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. We make our endeavors and pray for Krishna’s mercy, which really comes through paramparā.

All right, thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Paramdham Prabhu? Do we have a traveling microphone?

Devotee: Sometimes when devotees describe their experience in chanting the holy name, it is said that after some time, the holy name is revealed to them, is manifested. Sometimes you take time, but after some time chanting, the holy name is manifested. When is that? When is when you feel the holy name is manifested?

Giriraj Swami: Well, why didn’t you ask them? Why are you asking me? I haven’t realized that.

Devotee: I thought when you read your lecture, you said that, I’m curious what it means.

Giriraj Swami: On the highest level of pure chanting, Krishna reveals Himself, that means you realize that the name is Krishna Himself, so His form is revealed, His qualities are revealed, His pastimes are revealed, everything. I mean, on that stage, by chanting, you actually enter the spiritual world. But really, our mood is separation. Once, a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, “How can we tell if we are chanting attentive good rounds with quality? How can we tell if we are chanting with quality?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “When the quality comes, you won’t have to ask.” And then he said, “What is quality? Quality is āsakti.”

There are different stages, the nine stages; ādau śraddhā, sādhu-saṅga, bhajana-kriyā, anartha-nivṛtti, ruci, and then āsakti, which is just prior to bhāva and prema. So, he said, “When the quality comes, there will be āsakti and that feeling of separation.” And Srila Prabhupada gave the example of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me, “Without Govinda, the whole universe is vacant, it’s empty,” that’s the mood. Prabhupada said, “Last night, I saw Krishna, I saw Radha and Krishna dancing” is sahaja, making a cheat. I don’t think a devotee would say, “I was chanting and the holy name revealed itself, I saw Radha and Krishna dancing.” I don’t know, but it’s more the mood of separation. It may happen, but devotees don’t speak like that.

There was a. . . Anyway, it’s an interesting story but we don’t have that much time, but the idea is the mood of separation. When we were at the Ardha Khumba-mela with Srila Prabhupada in 1971, a man came to our camp, and the way he was speaking, he was just like one of us. His spiritual practices and his understanding of the philosophy, everything was just like us, we were quite impressed. So, we told Srila Prabhupada about him, and Srila Prabhupada listened, and he appreciated what we were saying. And then, we told Srila Prabhupada that the man said that he had seen Krishna. Srila Prabhupada said, “He may be a pretender.” Because that’s not our mood, that’s not how we speak. Our mood is he rādhe vraja-devīke ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ, “Where are you?” He rādhe, “O Radharani,” vraja-devīke, “Queen of Vrindavan, O son of Nanda Maharaja, where are you? Are you by the banks of the Yamuna or are you at Govardhana Hill?” That was the mood of the Six Gosvamis in executing Krishna consciousness, so it’s our mood. It’s the highest and it’s also the safest. Otherwise, it can be a little sahaja, cheat. I hope that’s all right.

A little different, but another way to realize Krishna is by taking prasāda. Now, it sounds like I’m leaning into the feast, which is soon approaching, but we, in late 1970s. . . So, Srila Prabhupada was invited to a Vedanta Sammelan, the Vedanta Ashram in Amritsar, Punjab. It was basically a Mayavadi place, impersonalists. And they had impersonal slogans everywhere, tat tvam asi and aham brahmasmi, so many things.

So, very early in our stay there, the organizers gave Prabhupada one room, one unit, and next to that was another unit. In the other unit were two ladies in the group, I think Yamuna devi and Kausalya, and then us men, we were sleeping in the courtyard. They had a big hall, a dormitory, not reserved for us, you could either go in the big hall or just sleep outdoors in the courtyard.

So, in the morning, we would go into Srila Prabhupada’s room and sing the samsara prayers, that was the usual, or as Dravida Prabhu or Indradyumna Swami once pointed out, we shouldn’t say the samsara prayers, we should say the Gurv-aṣṭaka prayers. We would sing those prayers and have a little talk. So, we were asking Srila Prabhupada, “What are all these slogans?” And he said, “Actually, they don’t agree with our philosophy, but they invited us because of our kirtan.” They believed, and it was true, that by having us come and perform kirtan, they would get way more people to come to their pandal than otherwise.

I remember Malati back. . . Anyway, she was doing the offering to Prabhupada’s Deities in his room, and it was just a simple plate with fruit and some sweets. Srila Prabhupada said, “They will go on for years speculating without coming to any conclusion, and we will realize God,” and then he took a sweet ball from the plate, popped it in his mouth, and said, “We will realize God simply by eating.” So, this is a superior process. Of course, chanting, hearing. Prabhupada sort of explained our movement in the early days, it was chanting, dancing, feasting, and philosophy.

One disciple was sort of presenting that to an audience in Srila Prabhupada’s presence. So, the disciple said, “Chanting, dancing, feasting, philosophy, and a little work.” Prabhupada interrupted, “No. No work.” Then the disciple began again, “Chanting, dancing, feasting, philosophy, and just a little bit of work.” He said, “No. No work.” Because it’s not work, devotional service is not work, it’s bhakti-yoga, it’s devotional service, it’s pleasure.

Okay, so what’s next?

Devotee: Food is going to be served.

Giriraj Swami: Who said that? Very intelligent. All right, now we’ll take prasāda, I don’t know if we’ll say prayers or announcements or whatever.

Devotee: Oh, we’ll do announcements a little later as we are waiting for prasāda, but I did want to mention about Giriraj Swami, as we mentioned earlier, he has produced three books here, very wonderful books. We have Watering the Seed, Many Moons, and Life’s Final Exam, and they are all just beautiful, wonderful content. They are available here in the front lobby, and we welcome you to go up there to get a book, and then you can come to Giriraj Swami so he can sign it for you, if you want to talk to him and have some questions like that. So, I just wanted to make sure that we said something about it.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, we could have a few here too.

Devotee: Okay, we’ll bring up some books here too so that they are easily available and you don’t have to go there and then come back. Okay, thank you very much.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you.