SB 3.25.21 – Nrsimha-caturdasi

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. I welcome you to the auspicious celebration of Lord Nrsimha’s appearance, known as Nrsimha-caturdasi. We will read one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Five, Chapter Eighteen: “The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa.” This prayer is offered by Prahlada Maharaja to Lord Nrsimhadeva. Please repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 9

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

TRANSLATION

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

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The following verse describes a Vaiṣṇava:

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca

kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo

vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

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

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

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

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ

patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau

kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-

sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

“O son of Mahārāja Nanda [Kṛṣṇa], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick Me up from the ocean of death and place Me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.” 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.” 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: one is a snake, and the other is the man like Hiraṇyakaśipu, who is by nature envious of everyone, even of his father or son. Hiraṇyakaśipu was envious of his little son Prahlāda, but Prahlāda Mahārāja asked a benediction for the benefit of his father. Hiraṇyakaśipu was very envious of devotees, but Prahlāda wished that his father and other demons like him would give up their envious nature by the grace of the Lord and stop harassing the devotees (khalaḥ prasīdatām). The difficulty is that the khala (envious living entity) is rarely pacified. One kind of khala, the snake, can be pacified simply by mantras or by the action of a particular herb (mantrauṣadhi-vaśaḥ sarpaḥ khalakena nivāryate). An envious person, however, cannot be pacified by any means. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja prays that all envious persons may undergo a change of heart and think of the welfare of others.

If the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Kṛṣṇa everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others. 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). 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. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that this is impossible because the living entities are innumerable. If one set of living entities is actually delivered by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, another set will fill the entire universe.

COMMENT

In this verse or prayer, Prahlada Maharaja exemplifies the thoughts and mood of a Vaishnava. As Srila Prabhupada quoted in the purport,"vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca, kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca, patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo, vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ.” Vāñchā-kalpa-taru means a desire tree. Desire trees exist in the spiritual world and they fulfill the desires of everyone. But in the spiritual world, no one has any desire other than to serve Krishna. And so, the desired trees help the devotees in their devotional service, and Vaishnavas do the same. Vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca, kṛpā-sindhubhya means, ocean of mercy. There is no limit practically to an ocean. No one can measure an ocean and in the same way, there is no limit to the mercy of a Vaishnava, and especially Lord Nityananda. His mercy is unlimited. There was an incident, there were actually two in Bombay. In one, one of Srila Prabhupada’s early disciples, Prabhupada was in Bombay and the disciple was in Calcutta, and that early disciple had somehow fallen into smoking ganja or hashish and the temple president in Calcutta phoned Srila Prabhupada in Bombay and informed him about that early disciple. And Srila Prabhupada told the president to tell the disciple that if he doesn’t give up smoking ganja “I” meaning Prabhupada will reject him. After the phone call, Tamal Krishna Goswami asked Srila Prabhupada, “Is it true that you would reject that disciple?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, the mercy of Lord Nityananda is unlimited.”

Then later back in Juhu that incident I just described took place when there was still a difficulty with the Juhu land. So Srila Prabhupada was staying at a life member’s home in Bombay. But then later when Srila Prabhupada was staying in Juhu, one of his disciples started to, he moved out of the temple. The Juhu temple was very near the beach. That disciple moved out of the temple; he was staying on the beach and he was associating with some sort of yogi who would do tricks like put something in his ear and it made it come out of his mouth and attracting a lot of followers. So Tamal Krishna Goswami informed Srila Prabhupada about what that disciple was doing and it was really quite bizarre. So Tamal Krishna Goswami suggested that Prabhupada reject him, cut him off, so that he is not associated with our movement; he is not considered a part of ISKCON. And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, I will not reject him” and Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Well don’t you have to draw the line somewhere?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “There is no limit to Lord Nityananda’s mercy.” So that is ocean; there is no limit. 

So of course we are reading about Prahlada Maharaja and Prahlada’s mood, of course it is reflected in this beautiful prayer. It is also, reflected in his prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva after the Lord appeared and killed Hiranyakasipu and some of those verses were quoted by Srila Prabhupada very often, especially Prahlada’s mood of compassion. In a couple of verses he says, “prāyeṇa deva munayaḥ sva-vimukti-kāmā,” that means generally saintly persons are interested only in their own salvation and not caring for the big cities and towns they go to the forests or mountains—Prahlada uses that word in vows of silence. And Prahlada says, “But I am not like them, I do not care simply for my own deliverance but I am concerned with all these fools and rascals,” uses the word the mūḍha. Mūḍha means fool or rascal, and vimūḍha means extremely fool and rascal. So Prahlada says that he is always concerned for these vimūḍhas and he is thinking of ways to bring them, he is addressing Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to His lotus feet, to bring them to the lotus feet of the Lord. And Srila Prabhupada was also in that mood. In fact, when Srila Prabhupada was translating the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about Prahlada Maharaja especially his mood and his prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Prabhupada’s secretary said that, “You seem to be in the same mood as Prahlada Maharaja.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Do you think so?” And the secretary said yes. Prabhupada said, “Yes, I think so too. He was, he definitely was.

And the qualities of Vaishnavas are described in different places and I am thinking of one description which appears in the Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter - Lord Kapiladeva’s Teachings. And Srila Prabhupada spoke about that verse in relation to himself and the struggles that he was undergoing in Juhu, because there are many khalaḥ, many envious persons. And Srila Prabhupada would quote this verse there says two kinds of envious entities, the snake and the envious person but the snake can be pacified by mantras or herbs but an envious person cannot be pacified. So these envious persons were creating a lot of difficulty for Srila Prabhupada. So in one talk he gave, from the Third Canto, the verse described the qualities of a sadhu. 

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ

suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām

ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ

sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ

So titikṣavaḥ, who knows what titikṣavaḥ means? Yes, titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ, what does kāruṇikāḥ means? suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, what does suhṛdaḥ means? Yes, and sarva-dehinām? ajāta-śatravaḥ, ajāta means he has no enemy; śāntāḥ - peaceful. sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ - these are the ordinance of the sadhus.

So Srila Prabhupada related this verse to his own situation in Juhu, trying to preach and establish the mission and build the temple. And so, he said that a sadhu has no enemy but still people are so fallen that an envious person will become the enemy of a sadhu, not for any fault of the sadhu but just because of the envious person’s nature. And Srila Prabhupada said we have so many enemies who are trying to stop us. And then he said, “We have so many branches all over the world we could have thought, The people of Bombay don’t find us, all right, we will go somewhere else, but no, kāruṇika, the sadhu is merciful, he wants them to take to Krishna consciousness.” And then he described the different difficulties that we were facing and he said, “What can we get done, titikṣavaḥ, what can be done; we must tolerate and go on with our mission.” So these principles or characteristics of a Vaishnava, fortunately for us, are fully exemplified in Srila Prabhupada and therefore by studying his character we can know what is of Vaishnava and we can also try to follow in his footsteps.

In fact the verse I just quoted, titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ, comes right next to another verse that says that everyone knows that attachment to the material is the greatest cause of bondage for the living entity but the same attachment, when transferred to a sadhu, opens the door of liberation. So by hearing about Srila Prabhupada kept as the best example, and becoming attached to him the door to liberation is opened, “mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam.” So as Srila Prabhupada often said we cannot kill attachment; that we are living beings, you can’t be without attachment and be a living being; then you become a stone. But that attachment has to be transferred from the material to the sadhu, to the devotee. And “mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam” that opens the door to liberation. So when we read these prayers, these descriptions, we should think how. So we should test ourselves by these qualities; to what extent are we manifesting these qualities, to what extent are we envious, and to what extent are we thinking of the welfare of others and to whatever degree we are falling short, and we all do fall short to some extent, we can pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to sit in our heart and because He killed the demon, Hiranyakasipu, he should destroy our demonic propensity, our envious nature. In fact, there is another verse just like that, the preceding verse I will read the translation; it is so nice.

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, the source of all power. O my Lord who possesses nails and teeth just like thunderbolts, kindly vanquish our demon-like desires for fruitive activity in this material world. Please appear in our hearts and drive away our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless in the struggle for existence in this material world.”

So we are always dependent. We cannot actually do anything on our own but we do need to make the effort and in logic, making the effort is a necessary condition but it is not sufficient. It is necessary but not sufficient. What is required is mercy; mercy of the Lord and the superior Vaishnavas. That way we can become successful and the same principle is enunciated in the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Chapter, where Krishna says that when the devotee tries to cleanse the heart, Krishna from within the heart will help the devotee. So the devotee has to make the effort that is necessary but it is not sufficient; he needs the help of Krishna. And then the next verse in the Second Canto, “naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā.” So, Bhagavat, there are two kinds of bhagavatas; the person bhagavata and the book bhagavata. So naṣṭa-prāyeṣv, naṣṭa means destroyed and prāyeṣv, means almost completely, naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu, all the inauspicious things in the heart; nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, by regular service to these two bhagavatas. Srila Prabhupada translated later by regular attendance in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class like this, or by serving the pure devotee. All that is inauspicious and the heart becomes almost destroyed. And bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī, that devotional service becomes established as an irrevocable fact - naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā.

So at one stage in the early days in India with Srila Prabhupada, he really kept us busy to the point where I wasn’t finding time to read and it was really bothering me that I wasn’t reading. And I didn’t say anything to Srila Prabhupada but it was as if he could read minds. And so many times it was as if he was just reading my mind. And in this case, he quoted that verse nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, and he said that by serving the pure devotee all the truths of the Bhāgavatam will be revealed even if you don’t have time to read the book. So he was encouraging us and we really were nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, that we really were fully engaged. So that is a mystery; Prabhupada uses that term in the Second Chapter of the First Canto, that human reason fails to understand how by the service of the bhagavats these miraculous effects take place. So the conclusion is that we should give up our hesitation, our absorption in ourselves and practice. Of course it may not occur all of a sudden at once, but practice absorbing the mind on adhokṣaja and thinking of the welfare of others.

So much of our time, almost all of our time—well I can’t speak for you all but say for myself—goes into thinking of myself; what is good for me. And the mind is always accepting and rejecting and what is the basis of accepting and rejecting is good for me; good for my gross or subtle sense gratification. So we have to give that up. And yes, absorb our mind in thinking of Krishna and thinking of the welfare of others; not just what is good for me. Of course, it is a gradual process. Srila Rupa Gosvami has described the process in nine steps.

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-

saṅgo ‘tha bhajana-kriyā

tato ‘nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt

tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ

Ādau śraddhā, first is faith; tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo, associate with devotees; tataḥ bhajana-kriyā, engage in the regular practice of devotional service. Srila Prabhupada says at this stage the devotee takes initiation and undertakes the process of bhakti-yoga. Then anartha-nivṛtti, vanquishing of unwanted desires and behaviors, ruci, taste and that means what is more taste for Krishna consciousness than for anything else. That is what ruci means, and āsakti, attachment and bhāva, the ecstatic love of Godhead and premā, love of God. So Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that as one goes through these different stages, the consciousness of keeping oneself at the center decreases, and the consciousness of putting Krishna in the center increases. And he says that on the stage of niṣṭhā and there is another briefing on those and anarthas are vanquished not fully but like Prabhupada quoted, maybe, Prabhupada said 75 percent, then niṣṭhā, one becomes steady, fixed. So then it is half and half. Before that we think of ourselves more as the center than Krishna and after anartha-nivṛtti and niṣṭhā, it is about half and half, and then as we make further progress Krishna becomes more and more the center.

So it is like everything, a devotional service. The process itself works to reform us but at the same time we make an endeavor to reform ourselves. It is not enough, “Oh I will just chant and I will become a pure devotee.” Well that’s true but you also have to make an effort of not just chanting but to reform your behavior. But you also can’t do that without mercy. Someone may say, “Okay, I am just going to be a good person, I am not going to chant also won’t work and we need both. Yes, we have such wonderful examples like Prahlada Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada, and so, we should follow in their footsteps. And as Srila Prabhupada often said, “Just give this life to Krishna, just give this one life to Krishna” but then give this one life to Krishna doesn’t mean superficially, that you can’t hold it for too long but really give this life to Krishna. Let us give this one life to Krishna. I think he said that he has said it many times. I think he said it to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja and he has done it. That is what it means to give this life to Krishna.

All right, thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments?

Yes! Arjuna, you are living up to your name’s sake, Arjuna asks questions, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. We are all in the battle field. Yes.

Arjuna: Thank you for the amazing class. I think today was half fasting day so, when you were coming to the program I was thinking that, Oh this is too hard fasting I can’t do it, and Nirjala-ekādaśī will soon be there. Usually I try to do a Nirjala fast on Nirjala-ekādaśī. I was thinking that, “Oh this is too hard. I don’t want to do fasting. Maybe I will eat fruits or do regular Ekādaśī rather than doing. So I was thinking, Let me take  it easier rather than hard on myself, and these fasting days are important because right now I am absorbed in hearing Krishna consciousness. So right now I am not feeling that hunger which I was feeling at 6:00 p.m. So it seems little better. Yes, basically through life what happens is again that material ambition, that is that I want to be successful in my field which means that in addition to working in the office I want to dedicate some time in the evening also. But when I do that what happens is that I don’t give much time to Krishna consciousness apart from just chanting my rounds, so I feel lack of Krishna consciousness because I am giving too much time to my ambition so, I don’t know how to balance it. I feel my ambition even though it is material it is good because I feel I can use it in Krishna’s service and it is hard to think of. At one time I am thinking maybe I should dedicate my time at least have some reading time daily in the evening so that I am becoming spiritually absorbed in these subject matters and other time I am thinking no, I need to give time to my material ambitions. And then when I do that I feel exhausted and tired and I don’t feel that I am too much into Krishna consciousness. So I don’t know how to find a proper balance or what to do?

Giriraj Swami: But I just had an idea. Why don’t we ask a grihastha who is working? Shyamananda Prabhu, how can you find the balance? I have my ideas but I would like to hear from you too.

Shyamananda Prabhu: What is the ambition that you are striving for? In our discussions he said that you are working on your paper.

Arjuna: Yes.

Shyamananda Prabhu: So he is working on his thesis paper which will eventually facilitate him getting his residence here much stronger, and that to be the case that he will be able to serve here better. So then it serves to do some service and finish it up early, then he can serve for a long time. That would be my thought.

Arjuna: Basically it keeps me at least busy for two hours in the evening. When I come back so yes, it is.

Giriraj Swami: What time do you get up in the morning?

Arjuna: We usually try to get up by 5:00 or 5:30 a.m.

Giriraj Swami: Could you get up earlier?

Arjuna: Earlier, we usually sleep by 9:00 p.m.

Giriraj Swami: Well that’s a good bed time.

Arjuna: Yes, so we at least getting that part right so for now.

Giriraj Swami: So, facilitate getting up early.

Arjuna: Earlier like 4:00 or 4:30?

Giriraj Swami: Well then you could chant and read more and better usually.

Arjuna: Yes, I thought of that. If that happens I will be able to read but usually nowadays since last two weeks I have been getting up at 5:00 a.m. not earlier than 5:00 this is two hours of chanting.

Giriraj Swami: From 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., how many hours is that?

Arjuna: Eight hours.

Giriraj Swami: If you need all that sleep, I guess you do.

Arjuna: If I sleep five or five and a half hours I go to office that I feel sleepy. So, then I don’t want to feel sleepy when I am at work so, I want to be focused at work.

Giriraj Swami: Okay so five, five and a half doesn’t work. So then we are at eight, you could do something in between. 

Arjuna: And then by doing this more regularly, this is my plan that I am thinking that by doing this regularly I am trying to let us say for now I need eight hours but if I become more regular, slowly it will become the time required will be less. So I may come to seven hours then I will have more time. So I am just trying to right now my strategies to be regulated and usually what happens when I work in the office. Let us say I am not thinking of Krishna and then I come home and I work on this paper, I feel very exhausted after. I am at 9:00 and I just want to sleep and get that fatigued out.

Giriraj Swami: So basically you are doing exactly what you want to do, so what is the problem? You don’t feel Krishna conscious is that the problem?

Arjuna: Yes, I feel lack of Krishna because I feel that when I hear lectures I feel that I want to do a job in reading and that I am also thinking of Krishna because Krishna is saying that you should do your duty and think of me.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Arjuna: And I feel that may not happen if I don’t read properly, if I at least give a good quality time reading and thinking of Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, reading is necessary.

Arjuna: Every lecture I hear I feel like I should give more time to Krishna but then I go back and then it is like other things are trying to take my time which is, you should do this, so you should do that and then more of the time goes.

Giriraj Swami: What if you didn’t do that two hours at night?

Arjuna: Yes, I can give some time to Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, balance is really the key. Maybe there is a little imbalance, come home and continuing the work from the office. So maybe less of that.

Any other questions or comments? What is your good name?

Devotee: My name is Naresh.

Giriraj Swami: Naresh.

Devotee: Thank you very much for the very powerful insights. The two powerful things that stuck to me from your thoughts today is; one is reform the behavior and second thing is the example that you gave in the beginning about how envious nature overpowers us and affects even sadhus. That you mentioned that sadhu may get affected not because he has any problems.

Giriraj Swami: So yes, sadhus have no enemy.

Devotee: Right.

Giriraj Swami: A sadhu has no enemy, but an envious person may becomes an enemy of the sadhu through no fault of the sadhu.

Devotee: Right.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: So on those two points just as you said we are the humans and we have to reform our behavior and somehow get that envy out of us. What do you suggest; how should we put on that path?

Giriraj Swami: To become free from envy.

Devotee: Yes, free from envy and reform the behavior.

Giriraj Swami: Well, what behavior do you want to reform? Maybe it is too personal? You have a question but it is just that.

Devotee: Just the human nature, I guess.

Giriraj Swami: It is practice; let us put it that way, practice. 

Devotee: Okay. 

Giriraj Swami: When someone asked His Holiness Radhanath Swami how he became so humble, he said he practiced. It wasn’t natural, he practiced but after practicing a while it became natural. So we have to practice and then it will become second nature to us, whatever it is.

Devotee: Right. 

Giriraj Swami: And yes, manifestations of envy are speaking badly about someone. So you can practice speaking favorably about a person and if I can’t something negative comes out. Out of envy you can still try to counteract it by saying positive things, and even admit if you said it to someone you say actually what I said wasn’t true. It was just my envious I said it and actually personally say something that is about the person. Thank you.

Devotee: Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Any other questions or comments? 

So, it is dusk. By the way, you are on my mailing list, aren’t you? I posted something about the great benefits of fasting from sunrise to dusk. If you would have read that all this weakness of mind would not have been there because the benefits of observing this fast are incredible, fantastic.

Nṛsiṁha Bhagavān ki jaya
Prahlada Maharaja ki jaya
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya