SB 7.5.12 – Everyone Should Be Friendly for the Service of the Lord

Giriraj Swami: So, we will read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Seven, Chapter Five: “Prahlāda Mahārāja, the Saintly Son of Hiraṇyakaśipu,” Text Twelve.

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

TEXT 12

sa yadānuvrataḥ puṁsāṁ
paśu-buddhir vibhidyate
anya eṣa tathānyo ’ham
iti bheda-gatāsatī

TRANSLATION

When the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased with the living entity because of his devotional service, one becomes a paṇḍita and does not make distinctions between enemies, friends and himself. Intelligently, he then thinks, “Every one of us is an eternal servant of God, and therefore we are not different from one another.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

When Prahlāda Mahārāja’s teachers and demoniac father asked him how his intelligence had been polluted, Prahlāda Mahārāja said, “As far as I am concerned, my intelligence has not been polluted. Rather, by the grace of my spiritual master and by the grace of my Lord, Kṛṣṇa, I have now learned that no one is my enemy and no one is my friend. We are all actually eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, but under the influence of the external energy we think that we are separately situated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead as friends and enemies of one another.

COMMENT

So, Lord Chaitanya taught: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa, the constitutional position of the living entity is that he is the eternal servant of Krishna. And therefore, we are all one, in the sense that we are all eternal servants of Krishna. But due to the influence of the illusory material energy, we forget our actual position and we identify with the body, and individually and collectively we form conceptions of friends and enemies, which is the basis of politics—friends and enemies—but really has no place in Krishna consciousness.

PURPORT (continued)

We are all actually eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, but under the influence of the external energy we think that we are separately situated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead as friends and enemies of one another. This mistaken idea has now been corrected, and therefore, unlike ordinary human beings, I no longer think that I am God and that others are my friends and enemies.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Bhurijana dasa has given a nice explanation of the psychology of the conditioned soul. Because that paśu-buddhi mentioned in the verse, that really refers to the idea that I am God. So Bhurijana Prabhu said that it’s as if everyone is walking around with the mentality: “Excuse me, I have a very important announcement to make! I am the center of the universe, and you all, everyone should do as I like.” And that really is the underlying psychology of the conditioned soul. Another time he said that people live life as if it were a drama or a movie, and each person thinks that he or she is the hero or heroine of that movie. And they think that everyone else is the supporting cast, “I’m the hero of the movie, and you all should support me in my heroic activities.”

So, you can imagine, if everyone is thinking they are the center of the universe and everyone should cooperate with them, how much conflict there will be. You can imagine, I’m thinking, “I’m the hero of this drama, and you are supposed to support me,” and you are saying, “No, I’m the hero of this drama and you are supposed to support me,” how much conflict there will be. And the fact is that the world is full of conflict. If you cooperate with me you are my friend, and if you don’t cooperate with me you are my enemy. So the whole world is filled with these conceptions of friends and enemies. And there is so much discord and discomfort and conflict.

PURPORT (continued)

We are all actually eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, but under the influence of the external energy we think that we are separately situated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead as friends and enemies of one another. This mistaken idea has now been corrected, and therefore, unlike ordinary human beings, I no longer think that I am God and that others are my friends and enemies. Now I am rightly thinking that everyone is an eternal servant of God and that our duty is to serve the supreme master, for then we shall stand on the platform of oneness as servants.

Demons think of everyone as a friend or enemy, but Vaiṣṇavas say that since everyone is a servant of the Lord, everyone is on the same platform. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava treats other living entities neither as friends nor as enemies, but instead tries to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, teaching everyone that we are all one as servants of the Supreme Lord but are uselessly wasting our valuable lives by creating nations, communities and other groups of friends and enemies.

COMMENT

So, this philosophy is revolutionary! If the leaders of the world could understand this philosophy, then the whole situation would change. It would become Vaikuntha instead of hell.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone should come to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus feel oneness as a servant of the Lord. Although there are 8,400,000 species of life, a Vaiṣṇava feels this oneness.

COMMENT

Lord Chaitanya had a devotee, well, He had so many devotees that exhibited extraordinary compassion. . . but there was one he had maybe leprosy? Some disease; and he was oozing liquids from his skin. And there were worms, or some sorts of creatures, that were feeding off of that. And if one of those worms fell off, that devotee would pick it up and put it back on his skin, so it could keep feeding on his diseased body.

And another devotee of Lord Chaitanya, Vasudeva Datta—he prayed to Lord Chaitanya that unless the living entities are freed from sinful reactions, they cannot take to devotional service, and go back home back to Godhead. And that’s also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām. That one who is completely freed from sinful activities and has engaged in pious activities, he can perform devotional service. So, Vasudeva Datta prayed to Lord Chaitanya that, “Let all the sinful reactions of all the living entities come on me, so that they can all go back home back to Godhead.” And when Lord Chaitanya heard this, His eyes filled with tears, and He began to tremble, and He embraced Vasudeva Datta for his extreme compassion and selflessness.

And in the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes that, I think he is quoting his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura who says that, “Vasudeva Datta is millions of times more merciful even than Lord Jesus Christ,” because Jesus Christ was willing to accept the sinful reactions of the souls who surrendered to him, but Vasudeva Datta was ready to accept the sinful reactions of every living entity in the entire universe. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada perhaps quoting Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura who says that Vasudeva Datta was thousands and millions of times more merciful, even when compared to a great personality like Jesus Christ. And Prahlada Maharaja himself exemplified the mood of compassion for the fallen souls.

And here, Srila Prabhupada is making the point there’re 8,400,000 species of life, but still the Vaishnava feels oneness, because the soul within all of those species is an eternal servant of Krishna. And Lord Chaitanya also felt compassion for the living entities in all the different bodies. He was discussing with nāmācārya Haridasa Thakura, how will the living entities be delivered, and Haridasa Thakura said, “They’ll be delivered by the chanting of the holy names.” And then Lord Chaitanya said, “Well, what about the non-believers, what about the Muslims, how will they be delivered?” And Haridasa Thakura replied, “Well, they can also be delivered through nāmābhāsa.”

I think he cited an example from the shastra of a Muslim who was attacked by a boar. And boars – pigs, hogs, are considered very unclean by Muslims. So, when he was attacked by this boar, he shouted out, “Haram Haram,” meaning, “How horrible, how horrible.” But he was unknowingly chanting the holy name of Rama “Haram, Haram,” and he was delivered. So Haridas Thakura said that even non-devotees like Muslims, they can be delivered by nāmābhāsa, by the holy name, even chanted unconsciously.

And then Lord Chaitanya asked, “Well, what about living entities that are not in human bodies?” And Haridasa Thakura replied that they too can be delivered by the holy names.

And in Srila Prabhupada’s famous essay, which he spoke in the original happening album that he recorded in the early days in New York City, with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. So, he says, “Even a child can take part, or even a dog can take part.” So, there are many statements of Srila Prabhupada, in which he expressed his concern for living entities in other forms of life. Of course, cows are very dear to Krishna, but even dogs. In one talk in Juhu Bombay, Srila Prabhupada was saying that we should distribute prasāda to the dogs. Not that because they are in dog bodies, they should be denied. No, we should distribute prasāda to them too. So, coming back to the purport:

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone should come to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus feel oneness as a servant of the Lord. Although there are 8,400,000 species of life, a Vaiṣṇava feels this oneness. The Īśopaniṣad advises, ekatvam anupaśyataḥ. A devotee should see the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be situated in everyone’s heart and should also see every living entity as an eternal servant of the Lord. This vision is called ekatvam, oneness. Although there is a relationship of master and servant, both master and servant are one because of their spiritual identity. This is also ekatvam. Thus the conception of ekatvam for the Vaiṣṇava is different from that of the Māyāvādī.

COMMENT

So, Lord Chaitanya’s philosophy is called acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which means inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference, between the Lord and His energies, between the Lord and the living entities. And because we are one with the Lord in quality, and Prabhupada said, “We are one in quality, but different in quantity,” because in quantity the Lord is infinite, and the living entities are infinitesimal, or as we would say ”infinitesimal.” So, because of the oneness, we can have a relationship with the Lord. Unless there is some oneness, we can’t have a relationship with anyone, there has to be some commonality. So, oneness in quality, but because of the difference in quantity—the Lord being infinite and the living entities being infinitesimal—the relationship is that of a master and servant.

PURPORT (continued)

Although there is a relationship of master and servant, both master and servant are one because of their spiritual identity.

Hiraṇyakaśipu asked Prahlāda Mahārāja how he had become antagonistic to his family. When a family member is killed by an enemy, all the members of the family would naturally be inimical to the murderer, but Hiraṇyakaśipu saw that Prahlāda had become friendly with the murderer.

COMMENT

So Hiranyakasipu had a brother named Hiraṇyakṣa, who was killed by Vishnu. And as Srila Prabhupada said – naturally, if a family member is killed, then all the other family members will be inimical to the killer. But Prahlada Maharaja to the contrary, was not inimical to Vishnu, but he was a devotee of Vishnu. So Hiranyakasipu was asking Prahlada, “How did this consciousness come upon you?”

PURPORT (continued)

When a family member is killed by an enemy, all the members of the family would naturally be inimical to the murderer, but Hiraṇyakaśipu saw that Prahlāda had become friendly with the murderer. Therefore he asked, “Who has created this kind of intelligence in you? Have you developed this consciousness by yourself? Since you are a small boy, someone must have induced you to think this way.” Prahlāda Mahārāja wanted to reply that an attitude favorable toward Viṣṇu can develop only when the Lord is favorable (sa yadānuvrataḥ). As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is the friend of everyone (suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati). The Lord is never an enemy to any of the millions of living entities, but is always a friend to everyone.

COMMENT

And we, as devotees, as servants of Krishna or representatives of Krishna, we should also be friendly towards everyone. And as mentioned here, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, Krishna is a friend of every living entity. And similarly, the sadhu, as described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Twenty-Five—a sadhu also is suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām is a well-wishing friend of every living entity. So, we should exhibit that in our attitude and our behavior.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord is never an enemy to any of the millions of living entities, but is always a friend to everyone. This is true understanding. If one thinks that the Lord is an enemy, his intelligence is paśu-buddhi, the intelligence of an animal. He falsely thinks, “I am different from my enemy, and my enemy is different from me. The enemy has done this, and therefore my duty is to kill him.” This misconception is described in this verse as bheda-gatāsatī. The actual fact is that everyone is a servant of the Lord, as confirmed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’). As servants of the Lord, we are one, and there can be no questions of enmity or friendship. If one actually understands that every one of us is a servant of the Lord, where is the question of enemy or friend?

Everyone should be friendly.

COMMENT

Now we are coming to the last paragraph in the purport. It’s very significant, because it gives direct instructions to us, as devotees, how we should relate to each other, one another.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaiṣṇava thinking, Vaikuṇṭha thinking. There may be rivalries and apparent competition between servants in performing service, but in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the service of another servant is appreciated, not condemned. This is Vaikuṇṭha competition.

COMMENT

So, on numerous occasions, Srila Prabhupada distinguished between transcendental competition and mundane competition. Because, Prabhupada did encourage competition. In book distribution for example. . . I remember, at one period, there was a fierce rivalry between the Radha-Damodara traveling saṅkīrtana party, headed by Tamal Krishna Goswami, and the Los Angeles Temple, which at the time was headed by Jayatirtha Prabhu. And Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his room in Juhu, at the back of Hare Krishna Land, and he was talking about this competition. And he said, “If the Los Angeles Temple defeats the Radha-Damodara traveling saṅkīrtana party, Tamal Krishna will have a heart attack!” So Prabhupada encouraged transcendental competition, and he explained what is the difference between transcendental and mundane competition. So, in transcendental competition, one admits and recognizes the good qualities and the good service of the other person, but wants to do better, wants to do more to please Krishna and guru. Whereas, in mundane competition, there is envy, and one does not admit the good qualities or service of the other person. So, an example of envy would be, someone is praising another devotee and the person says, “Oh, you don’t know that devotee, that devotee’s not what you think he is, that devotee’s not good at all!” Trying to elevate oneself by bringing down another person. Whereas, in transcendental competition, one admits the good qualities and activities of the other person, but wants to do better, to please guru and Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaiṣṇava thinking, Vaikuṇṭha thinking. There may be rivalries and apparent competition between servants in performing service, but in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the service of another servant is appreciated, not condemned. This is Vaikuṇṭha competition. There is no question of enmity between servants. Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuṇṭha. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, giving dictation according to the attitude of the servant.

COMMENT

So, this is unity and variety. That we are all one in the sense that we are all servants of Krishna, but we are also individuals. So, we have different ways in which we can serve Krishna, and Krishna who is situated in the heart, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca, He gives dictation to different devotees to serve Krishna in different ways, according to their mentality, according to their desire.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, giving dictation according to the attitude of the servant. However, the Lord gives different dictation to the nondevotees and devotees. The nondevotees challenge the authority of the Supreme Lord, and therefore the Lord dictates in such a way that the nondevotees forget the Lord’s service, life after life, and are punished by the laws of nature. But when a devotee very sincerely wants to render service to the Lord, the Lord dictates in a different way. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (10.10):

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” Everyone is actually a servant, not an enemy or friend, and everyone is working under different directions from the Lord, who directs each living entity according to his mentality.

COMMENT

So, this is acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, it is unity and diversity. Unity, we are all servants of Krishna, and diversity, we are all individuals. Therefore, we have our own individual ways of serving Krishna. Now, individual ways of serving Krishna doesn’t mean that we can concoct or manufacture our ways of serving. Our ways of serving have to be authorized by Krishna, by paramparā, by the spiritual master. But within the authorized process of devotional service, there are many varieties of service. And each devotee, as Srila Prabhupada says, should be allowed to render service according to his ability.

Prahlada Maharaja – śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, The Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Gosvami gives examples of devotees who attain perfection by executing one of the nine processes. Even Executing one is sufficient. And then Maharaja Ambarish executed all nine! And Rupa Gosvami explains that one can execute one or two or three or any number, all of them, and attain perfection.

But generally, for us aspiring devotees, we need variety in service, and therefore we keep busy, sometimes hearing, sometimes chanting, sometimes remembering, sometimes offering prayers, and sometimes worshipping the deity and all the different types of devotional service. So, it’s a very beautiful, wonderful process that Srila Prabhupada has given us, and if we follow his instructions, or Prahlada Maharaja’s instructions in this verse, our consciousness will be very pure and our relationships with one another will be very harmonious.

I just love this line; I’ll just read it again.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaiṣṇava thinking.

COMMENT

So, we cultivate this mentality, we cultivate these qualities. And then again, all good qualities are inherent within the soul, so we try to purify ourselves, especially by chanting and hearing, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, and then the dirty things are cleansed, and then naturally we develop this consciousness, which is Krishna consciousness. Hare Krishna!

So, thank you for listening so attentively. Are there any questions or comments?

Host: Devotees, if you have question please raise your hand, and unmute and you can ask the question.

Giriraj Swami: And again, as far as possible, please put on your cameras, so we can see you face to face.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. I just have a comment, I don’t have a question to your favorite line that—everybody should be friendly in service to the Lord—I was thinking it also applies in service to guru as well, because I have seen that when I’m serving with other devotees, and when they are like-minded devotees, and they’re teaching me, they are very kind and tolerant and patient with me, then you form eternal bonds. Like Kunti Mata, she has so much patience with all of us! And then also (?1.02:09 Mataji), she is never stressed. I don’t know how she does that in her service. Her calmness almost imbibes into me when I’m serving with her. So, I just wanted to mention that.

Giriraj Swami: Very nice, that’s very nice! Yes, we develop good qualities by association. Yeah, it’s a very nice thought you had, and a good experience that you’ve had. We also develop the qualities of the people we serve. I remember once, His Holiness Niranjana Swami came to stay at the ashram in Carpinteria, and I was really happy because he has so much taste for the holy name. I thought, “Oh, this is wonderful! I can serve him and then I’ll also get taste for the holy name.” Hare Krishna, thank you.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. My question is—there is a lot of political, and basically a lot of activism. And a lot of the activism that I see, the intent is to bring unity, but the essence is missing, because I feel like a lot of people, particularly online, and whatnot, they’re bringing to awareness certain issues, but they’re coming from a very wounded place, so it’s just them yelling and just them being sad about it. And you know how this topic is about unity and diversity, and how we are all Krishna’s servants, and I understand the whole nature of Kali-yuga and everything, but I also care about a lot of the issues that are going on. But how can I be a beacon of light, and not go down that rabbit hole of everybody’s emotions around, whatever’s going on, and not feel guilty about it. I’m afraid if I become that beacon of light, it’s going to come across as if I don’t care about what’s going on. And I don’t know how I put Krishna in the center, when it comes to this kind of stuff. I hope my question makes sense. . . thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Well, whenever there is a problem, of course there are always problems in the world, but whenever there are problems, I always think the best thing that we can do in general to help the situation, is to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. Because we really need a change of consciousness. When the consciousness changes, then the behavior will change. But you can’t really change the behavior without changing the consciousness. And Srila Prabhupada’s books, and the holy name, and prasāda distribution, and festivals, they can change the consciousness. And we have to see the remote cause. We can’t just look at the immediate cause. Srila Prabhupada commented that because people are killing animals, especially cows, there have to be wars, because people are engaging in sinful activities, and there are going to be reactions. So, it’s like someone has a disease—you need to cure the disease. You can treat the symptoms, but it won’t really have any lasting effect. You have to treat the disease.

As Rupa Gosvami explains in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that all suffering is due to sin, and sin is due to ignorance. So, the way to address the suffering is to remove the ignorance, which is to give people knowledge, which we find in Srila Prabhupada books in particular. So, we care, but we want to do something that will be substantial.

Sometimes Srila Prabhupada wrote letters to world leaders. He wrote a letter to Mahatma Gandhi, saying, “Now you’ve gotten political independence, now you should give up politics and preach Bhagavad-gītā.” And then he said, “Otherwise, you may face an inglorious death,” which happened. He was killed by a national, although he was working for the nation, he thought he was working for the nation, but he was killed by a fellow Hindu, nationalist. And he wrote a letter to the pope, saying that he heard that the pope was under pressure, to allow abortion. And he said how in Vedic philosophy abortion is considered tantamount to murder, and it cannot be sanctioned, it cannot be permitted. So, he was relentless Srila Prabhupada, he was relentless in his efforts. As the verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says: “Bring about a revolution in the impious lives of the misdirected human civilization.” He tried every method, but he gave greater emphasis to book distribution. Like ISV – our family business.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Devotee: Thank you so much for giving your valuable time to us. I was thinking, earlier you are mentioning the morality. So yesterday we were discussing during Gītā class, where Prabhupada mentioning of the (unclear 1:11:8) On that particular verse, Prabhupada is mentioning people go with morality, but however they may try, it’s not going to work unless they take up to Krishna consciousness. And Prabhupada says that even Yudhisthira Maharaja that he doesn’t want to tell a lie, and then he has to go to hell for a few minutes, or a few seconds, because he didn’t follow Krishna’s instruction. So, he doubted for a second. Prabhupada gave few other examples. . . in the world many leaders try to be moral. Why should I follow karma (unclear 1:11:48) in those twenty-six to twenty-eight verses in Chapter Two. So, I was thinking, without Krishna consciousness, none of this morality is going to work, because passion and ignorance will be rampant more than the goodness. That’s what Prabhupada mentioning in those two lectures on that specific verse.

Giriraj Swami: correct! You could become a world leader with this knowledge. (Laughter)

Devotee: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. I have two questions, one is: we put a lot of stress on attentive chanting. So sometimes, or all the times, or maybe many times, we think about our services that we are going to perform while we are chanting. And we just keep on thinking while we are chanting all our rounds. . . “Oh, I have to do this service, I have to go and talk with this devotee. . .” so is it being considered attentive chanting? Because we are thinking of our services that we are going to perform. . .

Giriraj Swami: Once I was visiting Chowpatty, and a devotee said something similar to His Holiness Radhanath Swami, (we were giving class together.) And Radhanath Swami said that, “it’s good that you like service, but when you are chanting—that’s your service.” So, you should be absorbed in that service, shouldn’t be distracted. And another thing, you sort of mentioned that when we chant, we think of all the things we have to do. It becomes a time to compile our to-do list: “I have to do this, I have to do this, and I have to do this.” So, Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Gopal Bhatta dasa who has a very big business. But what he said is, that to protect his chanting, he takes the time to make long to-do lists, so he doesn’t have to be thinking about making note of what he has to do while he is chanting. It’s service to his chanting, to take that time, to keep a list of things that he has to do, so he is not bothered by those thoughts while he is chanting. So, I think we have to follow these two examples or two instructions.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, second question, it is said that the consciousness of the cook enters our heart. Many times, I end up eating “ketchup,” or small things which are factory made. So, what happens when we eat something made not by a human, but by a factory? Maybe packaged food. . . it doesn’t have onion, garlic, and all this stuff, but still, we sometimes even after any session, we end up eating those from grocery stores. So, what happens to our consciousness when we eat that kind of food?

Giriraj Swami: well, your wife is an excellent cook! She is one of my favorite cooks in Dallas! And she uses all natural ingredients, and assembles them with devotion and skill. So, I don’t know why you would want to eat “ketchup” or something like that. It’s not offered. The ketchup you buy is not offered, yes, it’s not offer-able, you can’t really offer “ketchup” to Krishna.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, my question is related to the friends and enemy concept that Prahlada Maharaja explains in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. As devotees, we are encouraged to not turn off our rational or our discretion, or discretion in the mind, to understand what’s going on. So how is it possible to discern that a person is acting favorably or unfavorably, and yet, at the same time maintain this consciousness of no friends and enemies, but we are all servants, serving our supreme master who’s Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Can you repeat the question? I’m not sure I understand.

Devotee: How can a devotee maintain this consciousness of no friends and enemy, yet, at the same time, not turn off one’s discretion to understand what’s going on in the current world?

Giriraj Swami: So, there are two contexts. One is with devotees, and one is with all sorts of people. So, with devotees we should see that we are all servants of Krishna; we are all servants of Prabhupada. But with people in general, we are advised to make distinctions, prema-maitrī-kṛpa upekṣāyaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ. A madhyam bhakta—- Prabhupada said he wanted us all to act on the madhyam platform. So, prema, he gives his love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Maitrī, he makes friendship with devotees, and that’s what this verse and purport were about, especially the purport about making friends with devotees. Prema-maitrī-kṛpa. One gives mercy to the innocent. And upekṣāyaḥ, one neglects the envious. So, we do need to make those distinctions. You are absolutely right. And then we deal accordingly with the different categories. We give our love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we make friendship with devotees, we show mercy to the innocent and we neglect or avoid the envious.

Devotee: So, while we are making these distinctions, these distinctions are unrelated to friends and enemies, right? Is that the way we should see it?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, internally we should feel ourselves to be friends of everyone, even the envious. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that we should not preach to the envious, because it will just make them more offensive, but internally we can pray for their spiritual benefit. And he said that this is sadachar. There is a beautiful verse by Prahlada Maharaja in the Fifth Canto, swasti astu—may all envious people become pacified. So, he prays for them. We don’t preach to them, but we pray for them.

Devotee: Thank you Maharaja, very nice, thank you so much.

Devotee (Taruni Radha dasi): Thank you for a wonderful class. My question is, the verse was talking about we should not have competition spirit, competitive spirit while serving. How do I deal with somebody else with whom I’m serving, if they show the competition spirit? Should I let them lead and step back? Because that’s the thing I try to follow. . . I step back, but I feel like I will be missing my service to Krishna. So, what is the right balance if someone else is showing competitive spirit? And how should I respond in my service to Krishna? Thank you, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: You mean how should you respond if someone is trying to take away your service?

Devotee: If they are trying to prove their service is better and my service is less. If they try to serve with the mood that their service is better than mine, and they are the best to serve Krishna, and I’m a competitive spirit. . . the general idea of competency.

Giriraj Swami: Well, in the Third Canto, there is a description of devotional service influenced by the different modes. And Srila Prabhupada has paraphrased that philosophy, and he says that a devotee influenced by the mode of ignorance, thinks, “I’m the only devotee around here, nobody else here is a real devotee.” A devotee influenced by the mode of passion thinks, “I want to be the best devotee, I want to be known as being the best devotee.” And a devotee influenced by the mode of goodness thinks, “I want to go back home back to Godhead.” And a devotee who’s transcendentally situated thinks, “I just want to please Krishna! I just want to serve and please Krishna.” So, your competitor, who wants to be known as being better than you, seems to be influenced by the mode of passion, based on what you said.

Devotee (Taruni Radha dasi): Thank you, that’s very clear and helpful! Thank you.

Devotee: Questions are a little bit lingering from the previous classes you gave on Srila Prabhupada, and a little bit related to today’s class. I’ve been contemplating how you mentioned in your remembrance of Srila Prabhupada, how one time he was looking at you with so much love, and then when he noticed you are looking at him, he became very grave again. And in my own heart, I feel like I only see Srila Prabhupada as a very sort of grave, authoritarian, a rule maker. Not having a direct relationship with Srila Prabhupada, and only really knowing him through his books, and through yourself and other devotees, I feel like I see Prabhupada in a way, he is, “Don’t do this, and don’t do that,” and this sort of rule person. And I desire more of a softer, more understanding of Srila Prabhupada. . . and I was just wondering how I can develop that.

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada definitely had a soft side, very compassionate. I mean, my first thought is to read the Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta. There are things in my book, Watering the Seed also. But, there is one story—Srila Prabhupada gave a class, and he said that to go back to Godhead you have to be cent percent pure. And then he saw the faces of the devotees in the room. . . they’re looking sort of crest fallen, so he said, “90 percent pure.” They were still looking pretty dejected, and then he said, “80 percent pure.” They still weren’t that happy, so then he said, “All right, 75 percent pure, but that’s it!” But then after the class, some devotees were following him outside of the temple room, and he said, “Just hold on to my dhoti and I will take you back to Godhead, I have the key to the back door.” So, yeah, just depend on Prabhupada’s mercy, he is so very merciful.

We have to make our endeavor, of course. Like in the Damodar pastime. You see behind Simha Shwardas, Mother Yasoda binding baby Krishna with a rope. So, it’s described that when she was trying to bind Him, the rope was always the width of two fingers too short. They kept bringing more and more rope, but still two fingers too short. More and more rope, and still two fingers too short. But then eventually, when Krishna saw His mother’s hard labor, He became compassionate, and He allowed Himself to be bound. And in the Sanskrit of that verse there is two words: one is pariśrama which is hard labor, His mother’s hard labor, and the other is kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, Krishna’s mercy. Our acharyas explain that those two fingers too short, that the distance of one finger was covered by pariśrama, by the personal endeavor, and the other distance was covered by kṛṣṇa-kṛpā, by Krishna’s mercy. So, as a rule we need to make our effort, our best effort, and at the same time depend on Krishna’s mercy.

There are just so many times when Srila Prabhupada expressed his humility and appreciation for his disciples, even when they had difficulty. I heard from many devotees how they had some difficulty, maybe fell down, to some extent, and then went to Srila Prabhupada. And they were very apprehensive, but he was very kind and compassionate, and welcomed them.

Devotee: Maharaja, in the last paragraph you mentioned Srila Prabhupada says that we should engage people based on their ability. I’m trying to understand ability and proclivity. There are some persons who would like to do deity worship, there are some who would like to do cooking but not clean the pots after cooking, someone who would like to do kirtan but not sweep the floor. But everything is required in the service of Krishna. So how do we instruct ourselves, especially if there is a temple commander or a temple leader, where everything needs to get taken care of? And managing the manpower. . . someone will say “Oh if its deity worship, I would like to do it.” But then there will be short crew for cooking or short crew for cleaning pots. So how do we, as devotees, cooperate and not let the proclivity come in the way of the ability?

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada often used the phrase, “Do the needful.” We have to do the needful. And we really shouldn’t distinguish between, “I like this kind of service,” or “I don’t like that kind.” Yes, in the long term, we should engage in service that we can do well. One of the twenty-six qualities of a devotee, is expert. So, when someone asked Srila Prabhupada what does expert mean? He said, expert means that you do some service, and everyone says this is done nicely. That means expert. But we shouldn’t refuse service.

Srila Prabhupada instructed us to address one another as Prabhu. Prabhu means master, which means we are the servant. So, if the Prabhu asks us to do something, how can we refuse? So, we need to develop that mood of being ready to do the needful. A lot of times you get more reciprocation, you feel more bliss, when you do something, you don’t want to do. It’s easy to do something you want to do, but you may not get that much mercy for it. But if you do something you don’t like to do, you may get more mercy, and then you feel it, and that actually encourages you to do more austere service. Devotional service is a privilege! The privilege to wash Krishna’s pots, the privilege to clean Krishna’s toilets. And if we are too picky or fussy about the service that we’d like to do, we may not get the opportunity. Krishna may deprive us of the opportunity, so that we don’t take devotional service for granted, that we see it is a privilege. Not to distinguish, “Oh, I like this, I don’t like that.”

Once, Srila Prabhupada said that the only thing he doesn’t like about being a spiritual master is that sometimes he has to criticize his disciples, and they are all Vaishnavas. He doesn’t like to criticize Vaishnavas. But as spiritual master, he has to correct them for their spiritual benefit. One other approach is you do it all, and be so happy and enthusiastic while you are doing it, that the others think, “Wow he is so happy cleaning the pots! I’m missing out! Maybe I should clean the pots next time!”

You have more on this topic?

Devotee: No Maharaja, wonderful explanation! Thank you so much, Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: I just want to mention Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Jayananda dasa, such a wonderful devotee. Srila Prabhupada said he went back to Godhead. So, he was always enthusiastic for service. And a lot of time if someone doesn’t show up for their service, we get upset. But Jayananda Prabhu was the opposite! If someone didn’t show up for their service, he would say, “Prabhus, today is our lucky day, so and so didn’t come to do his service, so there is more service for us! Haribol!” And he wasn’t just saying it to try to rally the troops, but he actually meant it, he actually felt it, that we we’ve been blessed with more service, because so and so didn’t come.

Devotee: I feel like sharing something about what Karuna Mayi had said. It’s an experience that I was having when listening to Prabhupada’s lectures. The last two years I’ve been listening to Prabhupada’s lectures, and I felt like the way she expressed it, and I think it is too intense. But the last three days, suddenly my pen drive stopped working, and I think, “Oh my God!” Two years continuously listening to Prabhupada’s lectures, two, three hours every day while I’m doing anything. And what I got from it all was that actually Prabhupada, he changed the direction of my service. It was giving me personal association by listening how he is talking with his disciples. And it was very, very intense, but I just thought I had to be courageous, and just listen. And he completely changed the direction of my service, and also my attitude. He really pointed out my faults, and I hope I’m better. And I’m missing him now, three days, no more lectures! And I’m running after that devotee, “Please give me back another pen drive.” And I realize the value of a guru, don’t take his money for granted. He can stop speaking anytime. I actually read it, I don’t know maybe Fourth Canto, I’m still in the Fourth Canto, it’s the prerogative of the guru to speak. And I think, “Prabhupada, please forgive me.” I’m just hoping I’ll get back my pen drive.

Giriraj Swami: Well, Karuna Mayi, she was addressing her experience to you!

Devotee: It takes a lot of courage to hear what we don’t want to hear!

Giriraj Swami: We are going to end now, so I suggest we conclude with Vaishnava praṇāms.