SB 1.8.25 – Prayers by Queen Kunti

Giriraj Swami: So, we shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Eight: “Prayers by Queen Kuntī,” Text Twenty-Five. Also, a personal request I would like the participants as far as possible to put on your videos so I can see you and it’s more personal.

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

Again, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Eight: “Prayers by Queen Kuntī,” Text Twenty-Five.

TEXT 25

vipadaḥ santu tāḥ śaśvat
tatra tatra jagad-guro
bhavato darśanaṁ yat syād
apunar bhava-darśanam

TRANSLATION

I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Generally the distressed, the needy, the intelligent and the inquisitive, who have performed some pious activities, worship or begin to worship the Lord.

COMMENT

As this is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, catur-vidhā bhajante mām.

PURPORT (continued)

Others, who are thriving on misdeeds only, regardless of status, cannot approach the Supreme due to being misled by the illusory energy.

COMMENT

That is also from Bhagavad-gītā, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, for a pious person, if there is some calamity there is no other alternative than to take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord.

COMMENT

Of course, the material world is full of calamities and especially now, during the coronavirus pandemic. We may be more aware of the calamities.

PURPORT (continued)

Constantly remembering the lotus feet of the Lord means preparing for liberation from birth and death. Therefore, even though there are so-called calamities, they are welcome because they give us an opportunity to remember the Lord, which means liberation.

COMMENT

So, the devotee’s goal is Krishna consciousness, to remember and attain the lotus feet of the Lord and any situation that helps them to remember the Lord is welcome. And sometimes a difficult situation helps us to remember the Lord better than a comfortable situation. There is a saying that there are no atheists in the foxholes, the foxholes are positions in warfare, and when you are in war and you are faced with the possibility of death at any moment, you are not going to be an atheist anymore, because you realize that only God can help you.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, even though there are so-called calamities, they are welcome because they give us an opportunity to remember the Lord, which means liberation.

One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, which are accepted as the most suitable boat for crossing the ocean of nescience, can achieve liberation as easily as one leaps over the holes made by the hoofs of a calf. Such persons are meant to reside in the abode of the Lord, and they have nothing to do with a place where there is danger in every step.

COMMENT

So, in this short paragraph, that I just read, Srila Prabhupada is paraphrasing a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Fourteen, Text Fifty-Eight and it’s a beautiful verse, both in terms of the Sanskrit poetry and in terms of the meaning, and in the old days in the Boston temple, we used to sing that verse after maṅgala-ārati. It was a wonderful practice. I’ve never seen it anywhere since then. But I will now sing that beautiful verse.

TEXT 58

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

TRANSLATION

For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and of the great souls and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Although there is danger at every step, the devotee crosses right over it. The devotee’s goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.

COMMENT

So, this verse, which Srila Prabhupada paraphrased in the purport, has that same word vipadaḥ,  that’s the first word in Queen Kunti’s prayer. In Queen Kunti’s prayers vipadaḥ is translated as calamities and in the verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam vipadaḥ is translated as material miseries which comes to the same thing. So, although Kunti is welcoming the calamities as an opportunity to remember Krishna more or better, but actually for a devotee who takes shelter of the boat, of the lotus feet of Krishna, all those calamities, the ocean of material existence shrinks. It becomes just like the water in the hoof print of a calf. Devotee just crosses right over it by the grace of the Lord.

PURPORT (continued)

This material world is certified by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gītā as a dangerous place full of calamities.

COMMENT

Duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ, it is a place of misery and it is temporary.

PURPORT (continued)

Less intelligent persons prepare plans to adjust to those calamities without knowing that the nature of this place itself is full of calamities. 

COMMENT

As Srila Prabhupada says, they want to make the duḥkhālayam into a sukhālayam, which is not possible.

PURPORT (continued)

They have no information of the abode of the Lord, which is full of bliss and without trace of calamity. 

COMMENT

So, that’s our goal.

PURPORT (continued)

The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life. 

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada gave this same advice to the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, during Srila Prabhupada’s last major preaching program. It was a big pandal program at Azad Maidan, in downtown Bombay and the chief minister Sri S.B Chavan was scheduled to be the chief guest. But there was political upheaval in the state and it was not sure whether he would even be the chief minister, on the night he was scheduled to attend the pandal, and it was not sure whether he was the chief minister or not, if he would even come because he was embroiled in all this controversy and struggle. But he did come and he was the chief minister.

And Srila Prabhupada gave him the same advice. He said that the material world is full of upheavals and we have to tolerate them and go on with our duties in Krishna consciousness, exactly what Srila Prabhupada is advising us here. So, yeah however so-called big or so-called small we are, however so-called big or so-called small our position is, the same forces will operate. There will be calamities and we should tolerate them and remain fixed in our spiritual progress, in our practice of bhakti-yoga. So, we’ll continue with the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

The duty of the sane person, therefore, is to be undisturbed by worldly calamities, which are sure to happen in all circumstances. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, unavoidable, we can’t avoid them as it’s the nature of the world. Suffering all sorts of unavoidable misfortunes, one should make progress in spiritual realization because that is the mission of human life. The spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities; therefore, the so-called calamities are called false. A man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream, and he may cry for this calamity. Actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering; it is simply a case of dreams. In the same way, all calamities of life are said to be dreams.

COMMENT

Dreams in two senses, one that we as living entities are transcendental to the material world and therefore although the calamities or so-called calamities may affect our material condition but actually, they do not touch us, they cannot touch us because we are spiritual, we are not part of the material energy. And the other reason they are like dreams is because dreams are temporary. We may experience some calamity in a dream but as soon as, we wake up we realize that it was not real and our material existence in that sense is like a dream, because it’s not our real life. When we wake up from this dream to our real life, with Krishna in the spiritual realm, we will see that this was just a very temporary flickering illusion with no lasting reality.

So, we should not be too worried about calamities. Srila Prabhupada does say that one must of course accept remedial measures, but one should know that ultimately no protection is guaranteed other than the Lord’s protection. Prahlada Maharaja prays to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva; bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha, that a man may be in a strong boat but still he might die. A man may have a good doctor in medicine, but still he might die and a child may be protected by his parents but still, he might die.

So, there is no guaranteed protection other than the protection of the Lord and Prahlada Maharaja says that, yeah, that one who is neglected by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva cannot do anything for his betterment. Although, he may adopt processes that may be temporarily beneficial, but they afford no permanent lasting guaranteed benefit. So, our main effort and focus should be to gain the shelter of the Lord and the protection of the Lord.

In fact, I think I’ll read Prahlada’s verse, so important and Srila Prabhupada was so Krishna conscious, he always saw things in terms of verses. So, once I was in his room at the back of Hare Krishna land in Juhu and he heard a child crying in the distance and he immediately quoted this verse. So, I’ll read it.

TEXT 19

bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha

nārtasya cāgadam udanvati majjato nauḥ

taptasya tat-pratividhir ya ihāñjaseṣṭas

tāvad vibho tanu-bhṛtāṁ tvad-upekṣitānām

TRANSLATION

My Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept, although perhaps temporarily beneficial, are certainly impermanent. For example, a father and mother cannot protect their child, a physician and medicine cannot relieve a suffering patient, and a boat on the ocean cannot protect a drowning man.

COMMENT

So, when Srila Prabhupada heard that a child was crying in the distance, he thought of this immediately, bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha.

PURPORT (continued)

The spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities; therefore, the so-called calamities are called false. A man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream, and he may cry for this calamity. Actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering; it is simply a case of dreams. In the same way, all calamities of life are said to be dreams. If someone is lucky enough to get in contact with the Lord by devotional service, it is all gain.

COMMENT

In other words, the devotional service of the Lord is real and it uplifts us from this dream and its calamities.

PURPORT (continued)

Contact with the Lord by any one of the nine devotional services is always a forward step on the path going back to Godhead.

COMMENT

Where there are no calamities and where life is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. So, that should be our focus, not adjusting the calamities of the material world which cannot be avoided. Although, of course, as a matter of routine one must take ordinary precautions but ultimately our protector and savior is the Lord and our real home is paraṁ padaṁ, the supreme abode where there are no calamities.  Our main process, well the two, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and chanting the holy names; Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

So, thank you for joining and we can now take comments or questions from the participants. So, if you have any question or comment please raise your hand.

Host: Maharaja, while we are waiting for people to ask questions. First of all, thank you very much for your wonderful exposition of this. This is always a difficult verse to understand, praying for calamities to happen again and again, I understand and many of us understand, I would imagine in theory but in practice it’s a little scary to pray like that. But thank you for clarifying.

Giriraj Swami: You don’t have to pray for the calamities. They will come anyway. [Laughter]

Host: So, I had a question, Maharaja. Why or how would anyone be neglected by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva?. Are these people those who have explicitly turned away from Him and He therefore reciprocates with their desire not to have any relationship with Him?

Giriraj Swami: Can you repeat that?

Host: Sure, you mentioned in the prayer that Prahlada Maharaja was saying people who are neglected by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, right and that phrase stuck in my head that Krishna is all kind so how are these people neglected by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva? Is it that they have desired to explicitly turn away from Him and therefore He is reciprocating with their desire?

Giriraj Swami: Exactly. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā: ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, that as people approach Him, He reciprocates accordingly. So, if they neglect their relationship with Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, then Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva will neglect them. I mean, yes, He is all merciful but He doesn’t interfere with our minute independence and He honors our mood and so, if our mood is that we don’t want to have anything to do with the Lord, then the Lord won’t have anything to do with us.

Yeah, and therefore in the purport to that verse Srila Prabhupada says our priority should be to be on good terms with our Supreme father. If we neglect our Supreme father, how can we expect any good or any happiness, or His protection.

Host: Thank you very much, Maharaja. We have a question or a comment from mother Vegavati. Mother Vegavati, please go ahead.

Devotee: Okay, Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you so much. I just wanted to share when you were singing the verse that Prabhupada paraphrased in the purport, because I lived at Gita Nagari in the early 80’s, Satsvarupa Maharaja had been part of your same Boston temple.

Giriraj Swami: Oh yeah, right. He was the president there.

Devotee: Yeah, right. So, there was a lady’s party collecting for the Gita Nagari project and we had a tape of songs of him singing that we used to listen to, and that was on the tape. So, all of us knew that verse by heart. It was kind of the theme song of our collecting party and anyway, so then when Mother Kaulini was leaving her body, she had come back to Gita Nagari and so, many devotees came to pay their respects to her. It was so wonderful that she could leave from there.

And Svarga and I went up and we were there for the last two three days with her and there were devotees waiting in line to see her. Some from the 80’s some from the 90’s, devotees that knew her a little or a lot. And so, as we didn’t think we could stay more than a day and I didn’t want to butt in front of these people, but I really wanted to have a special time with her.

So, I went for a japa walk down by the cabin (Satsvarupa Maharaja’s) and was walking back and on the road, I wish I had it but I keep it at my office desk, there was a stone and on the stone is this imprint. When I looked at it, I saw two things. I picked up this stone. I walked back and saw two devotees, husband and wife, I said, “What do you see?” and one of them said, “I see a heart” and the other one said, “I see a calf’s hoof print” and that was what I had also seen.

So, then I knew I have something to say to her. And so, I told Kaisori, she let me in and I had my time with Mother Kaulini and I showed her the rock and I said, I reminded her of that song that we used to sing that all the ocean of material misery shrinks to the size of a calf’s hoof print.

And so, she said, “Let me see that rock” and then she looked at it and she put it next to her own Giriraj Maharaja on the table there. So, I just wanted to share that.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, that’s beautiful. That’s wonderful.

Devotee: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you.

Host: Thank you very much, Vegavati mataji. I see Vijay Krishna has also unmuted. Vijay Krishna Prabhu, do you have a question or a comment at this point?

Devotee: Yes, I have a question. Giriraj Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. My question is related to the following: in the verse, I read that Kunti devi is saying that she is wishing for the calamities. I wish that they would happen again and again. So, that we could see you again and again and you spoke in your class about the crisis, health crisis we are living right now, global health crisis because of the virus and this verse was spoken 5000 years ago and Lord Krishna was physically present. I know that these verses spoken by Kunti devi were spoken in the presence, in the physical presence of Lord Krishna five thousand years ago. But now, and the calamity was the Kurukshetra war. Now we see the virus calamity. Krishna is not physically present and at least, I’m not seeing Him and my question is as follows: how can we apply the message of this very old verse in times of chronology 5000 years, spoken 5000 years ago in the present day context, because the calamities here is present people are dying because of the virus and I’m not seeing Krishna walking door to door saying, “Here I am, the one who can prevent from, you to take from, who can save you from repeated birth and death.” Any help please?

Giriraj Swami: Well. . .

Devotee: Because. . . Maharaja, I’m sorry. If Kunti devi is saying, if we can see you because of the calamities, we can free ourselves from repeated birth and death and now in our present days, we have the calamity but we can’t see Krishna and because we can’t see Krishna because He is not physically present, like He was for Kunti devi mataji. How can we free ourselves from repeated birth and death, because He is not physically present, at least I don’t see Him?

Giriraj Swami: Well, as Srila Prabhupada says hearing is more important than seeing and you can hear Krishna, you can hear His instructions in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and for the people who don’t know about Krishna, which you mentioned, I think the best thing we can do and certainly one of the best things we can do is give them Srila Prabhupada’s books so they know about Krishna, so they know about the nature of the material world and the solution—how to escape the material world and go to the place where there are no calamities.

So, distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and others is a very important service to the people. So, they can really come to know who they are, what is the nature of the world, who is God, what is their relationship with God and that would really help them kali-kāle nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra and also the kali-kāle, in this age of Kali, nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra, Krishna appears or takes avatar as His holy name.

So, although Krishna is not present before us as He was present before Queen Kunti, but He is still available to us, as His holy name, as His words in the Bhagavad-gītā and words about Him in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So, He is available, if we want.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja. Thank you very much.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Hare Krishna.

Host: Thank you. So, we have two more questions one from Prema Manjari Mataji followed by Chandni Doshi Mataji. So, go ahead Prema Manjari Mataji.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. Guru Maharaja, I always wanted to ask you this question that when we are in deep sleep and as you said that we see a dream that the tiger is coming to attack. So, then we always have a choice that we can just stop dreaming and just get up and, let the dream go off and we do forget the dream also the bad dreams, we can forget very quickly but now in this situation where this calamity is also like a dream, as you explain. There is no choice, we have to be in this dream and we do practice devotional service because that’s the only way how we can stay in the wake-up stage, reading more of Bhāgavatam, hearing more online classes. But it’s not that twenty-four hours we can practice all what we know we should be doing. So, at the times when we are not doing all what can give us that strength, so, then again that kind of depression starts coming and especially there are so many things which we want to do, now Kartik is coming close and I want to go to Vrindavan and I’m just so so thinking that how will I be able to make it because. . . then Krishna is not allowing us to go. So, how do we console ourselves in such situations?

Giriraj Swami: And what is the reason that you can’t be engaged in devotional service all the time?

Devotee: Because sometimes we speak to our friends who are not devotees and then again, we hear that so many things are happening around. So, then we get affected and then our little conditioning that all the time I don’t want to watch some classes. Sometimes we still want to we have the conditioning that okay see some tv serial or something. So, then again, we get disturbed that what’s happening, we are just sitting home, just want to go out, meet the devotees because there is no choice what else can we do. We have made the most of this situation and hearing so many online classes and lectures going on but as I said, I cannot take full time all that, little time when I go to take a break there is no other better choice than watching something which is not connected with Krishna and that depresses me more and I want to go to Vrindavan and everyone is caring, don’t go. So, I feel Krishna is just being too hard on us and I have no choice but to stay in the suffering and I can’t forget it that this calamity is going on.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean in a way you’ve diagnosed your own disease, that you deviate from bhakti-yoga and then whenever you watch some tv, serial, or whatever it is and then afterwards you feel depressed.

Devotee: Yeah.

Giriraj Swami: Why should you do something that makes you feel depressed? It doesn’t make sense. I mean, of course, we could always say it’s the modes of nature. But why should you come under the modes of nature if you stay engaged in devotional service?

Devotee: Because Guru Maharaja, if I was more in an environment where I’m with so many more devotees, like we have programs we used to go out and if I was in Vrindavan right now, for the month and I wouldn’t even bother to see all those other things.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah.

Devotee: There is very limited choice. As I said, we are just within the four walls and we are watching a lot of devotional programs, but then it’s not just about the tv but even the other things, the fears and then those. So, I want to come out, as you said we can come out of the dream when we are asleep and we see the tiger and all but in this situation there is no escape. We have to stay in this calamity and we have to face it and tolerate it. So, I’m just. . . I understand what you are saying and I’m just wondering, this is going too long and just praying for some relief.

Giriraj Swami: Well, all I can say is you can’t go outside. So, you have to go inside. You have to go deeper inside, in your bhakti, because you can’t go outside. You can’t stay where you are. So, I mean, I think of Srila Prabhupada’s statement to Tamal Krishna Goswami, “I have my plans and you have your plans and Krishna has His plans.” So, we all had plans that we are unable to execute now because of the pandemic. I was planning to come to India. I was planning to launch my new book and I was planning to make a side trip to Mauritius, in December. I had so many plans. But I am where I am and I’m able to do what I can and yeah, I’m trying to be happy with where I am and what I can do and I’m pretty happy. So, you could be too.

Devotee: Thank you, Maharaja.

Host: So, one last one with the Chandni Mataji. Go ahead Chandni Mataji then we can end it.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I was just wondering Guru Maharaja, is there a pastime related to how the devotees got to singing the verse in the Boston temple? (10.14.58).

Giriraj Swami: Oh! I don’t know. I mean, it was just there. I could ask Satsvarupa Maharaja. That’s a good question. I don’t know how it came to be part of the morning program there. I’m glad it was.

Host: It was a favorite verse of Satsvarupa Maharaja. So, I think that’s how it got to be part of the program.

Giriraj Swami: Oh really, he just introduced it because it was his favorite verse. Well, that’s nice. That’s nice.

Devotee: Thank you.

Host: Thank you Jayadvaita Maharaja and thank you Giriraj Maharaja for giving us a valuable time and I am just reflecting that this calamity that we are in, sometimes I wonder I wish we get more of these. I know it’s very bad, its bad things associated with because of this calamity we are seeing more of you Maharaja, we are seeing more of other wonderful speakers and this way we are seeing Krishna more and more. We are seeing Krishna seven days a week before it was only maybe one or two days a week. So, from one sense this is a calamity just like queen Kunti prayed for and we feel saturated and very satisfied in our heart and our bhakti is getting nourished so much more.

So, we are grateful to the Lord for making this arrangement that appears to be calamity but the side effect is so much spiritual nourishment and we are able to see each other. All these wonderful devotee’s faces. I’ve never met them in my life but I’m seeing the glow of their bhakti and I’m seeing, hearing wonderful talks. So, I’m very grateful to you to bring this wonderful topic to remind us it’s something to celebrate really.

So, we are most appreciative. So, if everyone could just hold on for one minute.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I don’t know he had, he tried to ask and his hand raised but now. . .

Host: Nitai das had a question? Yeah, go ahead Prabhu.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I had a question about, in the purport, it states that our experience in the material world is just like a dream and the example of a tiger is given. And so, if one is presenting this knowledge to, let’s say a materialist and they make an argument that you are advocating, what your philosophy is advocating, is a form of escapism that you are not addressing the here and now, you are not addressing the problems, you are just trying to avoid them. So, how would you deal with that?

Giriraj Swami: Maybe you could re-phrase the question because I don’t see the connection.

Devotee: Sure, it says in the purport, in the last paragraph of the purport it says that it makes the point that the spirit soul is transcendental to all material calamities therefore the so-called calamities are called false and then Srila Prabhupada writes that a man may see a tiger swallowing him in a dream and he may cry for this calamity and then Srila Prabhupada is making the point that actually there is no tiger and there is no suffering, it is simply a case of dreams. So, if one accepts the Vedic conclusion then there is no question of escapism, but for a person who’s not doesn’t believe in the philosophy or doesn’t believe in the Vedas, they may see this as you are just trying to avoid the here and now, the problems of the material world and you are not addressing those problems.

So, my question is how would, if we are trying to preach this philosophy or if we are trying to discuss it with somebody who doesn’t necessarily believe in the authenticity or the authority of the Vedas, then how would we go about doing that?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, that’s a good question. One of the offenses against the holy name is to preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless. Once Srila Prabhupada was speaking with a professor in Sweden and one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples interjected, something that required faith for the professor to appreciate and Srila Prabhupada instructed the disciple not to speak like that. That unless someone has faith, they won’t appreciate what he said. So, first we have to create their faith on the basis of logic and reason and argument and then when they develop faith then we can make these statements.

So, I think with that hypothetical audience that you were mentioning, yeah, we shouldn’t preach this to them, but we should speak with them in such a way that they develop faith. Otherwise, they’ll misconstrue what we are saying, as I said. So, yeah, we have to be sensitive to our audience and speak in a way that’s appropriate for them. Yeah, good point

Devotee: I don’t know if there is time for another question or if the time is up but I did have another question in reference to the point that Prema Manjari Mataji was making. Is there enough time?

Host: We have a little bit over but you can go ahead if it’s short.

Devotee: Yes. Okay. So, the point that Prema Manjari Mataji was making about either the modes of material nature dragging us down and engaging in activities that are’t necessarily conducive to bhakti. So, my question in reference to her point is how does one develop more taste in their devotional practices so that they can become fixed in in those practices and not necessarily be susceptible to the lower modes of nature? If you could please enlighten on this.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah. Well, we do it as a matter of practice, as you said. There is a nice verse in the Upadeśāmṛta: syāt kṛṣṇa-nāma-caritādi-sitāpy avidyā, which means that the holy name, qualities, and pastimes of the Lord are sweet like sugar candy. But for one who is afflicted by the disease of jaundice or in this case avidya or ignorance, those sweet things are bitter. But by taking that remedy because in ayurvedic medicine, the remedy for jaundice is sugar candy which tastes bitter to the diseased tongue but one takes that medicine, one takes that sugar candy as a medicine and as one regains one’s health that a sugar candy which tastes bitter starts to take sweeter and sweeter and then when one is completely cured, one can taste it as it is, which is sweet, like nectar.

So, even if it’s so to speak a bitter medicine, in the beginning it’s actually not bitter, but it just tastes bitter to us because of our disease of avidya or ignorance. But if we continue to take the medicine even though it’s bitter, we’ll gradually become cured from the disease and then it will taste sweet, which it is. So, yeah, we should have that faith for taking the medicine. We’ll get the result.

Devotee: Thank you, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Host: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Host: Thank you very much, Maharaja. Thank you, dear devotees, for joining this evening.