SB 1.8.26

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Please accept my most humble obeisances, Maharaja. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Thank you so much.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you, thank you.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: So, Hare Krishna to all the devotees. Today, we are extremely fortunate to have the association of His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja. Hari Haribol! As such, today is a very auspicious festival, Pushya Abhishek. So, this festival has become more auspicious because today we’ll have a super feast for our yearly festival Sravan Utsava, and we’ll be hearing from His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja.

Just a small brief introduction of Maharaja. Maharaja appeared in the US, and he was the only son of a very famous lawyer in Chicago, and he came in contact with His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada in 1969, and then he joined Prabhupada’s movement. And Maharaja then came to India along with Srila Prabhupada, and in 1972, Maharaja was appointed by Prabhupada to be the president of ISKCON Bombay. It’s a historical temple. And recently also, Maharaja launched a book I’ll Build You a Temple: The Juhu Story. We all know the kind of struggle Prabhupada went through, and it’s a very historical story, and a very exciting and scintillating account by Maharaja. That book is very wonderful. And Maharaja was also made a trustee of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. And we all know that Maharaja was instrumental in the building of Bhaktivedanta Ashram in Govardhana, and he also led the development of Kirtan Ashram for Women and Bhaktivedanta Hospice in Vrindavan. Maharaja has been teaching in VHE and MHE also. And in the last pastimes of Srila Prabhupada, Maharaja was with Srila Prabhupada, and we all know the wonderful anecdotes Maharaja has.

Maharaja was very, very intimate with Srila Prabhupada, one of the very dear disciples of Srila Prabhupada. And Maharaja has written many books, one of the many books are Watering the Seed, Many Moons, and then Life’s Final Exam: Death and Dying From the Vedic Perspective, and the last book is I’ll Build You a Temple: The Juhu Story. Maharaja is known for his austerities, wonderful sadhana, very loving relationship with the devotees, and his dedication and loyalty to Srila Prabhupada.

So, today we have chosen a topic diving deep in Krishna consciousness, and there can be no other better personality than Maharaja himself to speak on this topic. So, we’ll be really enlivened to hear from Maharaja. And Maharaja came to Punjabi around four years back, when his book Watering the Seed was launched. Since then, we have been eagerly looking forward to hearing from Maharaja, so we are totally blessed today, and thank you so much, Maharaja, for accepting our request. So, I’ll request all the devotees to take the best advantage of this wonderful opportunity and hear very, very attentively from Maharaja. And whatever questions you have, don’t shy away, make full use of this opportunity because this is a very important topic for all the practicing devotees, so you can take full advantage of Maharaja’s association. And whatever questions we can have, we can ask Maharaja after the class. And now, I’ll request Maharaja to start the class. And thank you so much to all the devotees and especially to Maharaja. Hare Krishna, Maharaja.

Maharaja, we are on ISKCON Punjabi Bagh live, you have been watched by all the devotees all over the world on our YouTube channel also, and on this Zoom link also. Thank you so much, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Thank you, thank you. So, I will begin by singing the maṅgala-ācaraṇa prayers and leading a short kirtan, and then I will speak on a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that will give us the idea how to dive deep into Krishna consciousness.

[Giriraj Swami leads kirtan]

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. We shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Eight: “Prayers by Queen Kuntī,” Text Twenty-Six.

TEXT 26

janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhir

edhamāna-madaḥ pumān

naivārhaty abhidhātuṁ vai

tvām akiñcana-gocaram 

TRANSLATION

My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Being materially advanced means taking birth in an aristocratic family and possessing great wealth, an education and attractive personal beauty. All materialistic men are mad after possessing all these material opulences, and this is known as the advancement of material civilization. But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up, intoxicated by such temporary positions.

COMMENT BY Giriraj Swami

So, I will be speaking as I read the purport, so it may not be so useful from now on to have the purport on the screen. There’d be a lot of back and forth.

So, in this verse, there are many important words, practically every word is important. The word madaḥ means intoxication. When someone is intoxicated, he does not know what is what. Srila Prabhupada gives the example that a man may be lying intoxicated on the footpath, on the sidewalk, and if you ask him, he’ll say he is fine, he is happy, because he is intoxicated, he doesn’t know what is what. And when an ordinary person has material opulences; janma—birth, aiśvarya—opulence, śruta—education, and śrī—beauty, he becomes intoxicated, thinking that he is someone very important and very valuable. And he does not have the humility that is required to actually approach God and serve Him in devotional service. So, it is said that a pauper is proud of his penny. However little a person may have, still, he thinks he has something.

In the last line, we have the word akiñcana. Kiñcana means something and akiñcana means without something, without anything. And a related word, which has the same meaning, is niskiñcana. Lord Chaitanya used that word in a very significant prayer, niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya, basically saying that one who is niskiñcana, who has nothing, he can cross over the ocean of repeated births and deaths. Now, materially, we might think that having nothing is horrible, “How can we live if we don’t have anything?”

But this akiñcana, without having anything, can be taken in two ways. One is one literally has nothing. And there are sadhus in Vrindavan, at Govardhana, I know, they practically have nothing, akiñcana. But the other meaning is that he has no sense of false proprietorship. We have many big temples all over the world, Punjabi Bagh is one, Juhu Mumbai is another, and there are so many. But those temples are for Krishna and Krishna’s service. As Srila Prabhupada said, if he were just to stay in his small grass hut in Mayapur. Those of you who have been to Mayapur have seen that small grass hut which was used by Srila Prabhupada. And later, when they built the first building, which was quite opulent then, especially in Mayapur, with marble floors, big verandas, Srila Prabhupada said, “Actually, I preferred to live in the grass hut, which was in the mode of goodness. This big building with all the marble is in the mode of passion. But if I lived in the grass hut, no one would come. But here they come, and I have an opportunity to help them to preach and deliver them the knowledge of Krishna consciousness.”

So, personally, a devotee has no interest in an opulent residence. And historically, in India, devotees would spend large amounts to construct temples, but they themselves would live in very simple dwellings. So, they were not interested in building comfortable dwellings for themselves, but they were interested in building opulent temples for Krishna. So, we should always keep that in mind, if we do happen to live in an opulent temple, to always be cognizant that this facility is meant for Krishna and for Krishna’s service and not for our materially comfortable life.

Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, built a marble temple, Bagbazar Gaudiya Math. But later, he lamented that his disciples were fighting about who will occupy this room, who will occupy that room, who will be the proprietor of this room and he told our Srila Prabhupada near Radha-kunda, that “When we were living at Ultadanga and collecting 200 rupees a month, we were living very happily. But now that we’ve got this big marble temple, the disciples are fighting over who will get this room, who’ll get that room, who will be the proprietor of this room.” And he said to Srila Prabhupada, “If I could take the marble from the temple and print books, that would be better.” And then he told Srila Prabhupada directly, “If you ever get money, print books.”

This is a very important instruction, which Srila Prabhupada took to heart. But Prabhupada not only printed books and saw them distributed in huge quantities, but he also did build temples in the hope that his disciples would not fall into sense gratification with the facility, but use the facility to preach Krishna’s glories.

PURPORT (continued)

All materialistic men are mad after possessing all these material opulences, and this is known as the advancement of material civilization. But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up, intoxicated by such temporary possessions. Consequently, such materially puffed up persons are incapable of uttering the holy name of the Lord by addressing Him feelingly, “O Govinda, O Kṛṣṇa.” It is said in the śāstras that by once uttering the holy name of the Lord, the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit. Such is the power of uttering the holy name of the Lord. There is not the least exaggeration in this statement. Actually the Lord’s holy name has such powerful potency. But there is a quality to such utterances also. It depends on the quality of feeling. A helpless man can feelingly utter the holy name of the Lord, whereas a man who utters the same holy name in great material satisfaction cannot be so sincere. A materially puffed up person may utter the holy name of the Lord occasionally, but he is incapable of uttering the holy name in quality.

COMMENT

This is a very significant point because our whole process depends on our chanting of the holy name with feeling.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, the four principles of material advancement, namely (1) high parentage, (2) good wealth, (3) high education and (4) attractive beauty, are, so to speak, disqualifications for progress on the path of spiritual advancement.

COMMENT

Now, these material assets if they lead to our becoming intoxicated with false prestige, they are zeros. In fact, in a way, they are minuses, but let’s say they are zeros. But they can be used in Krishna’s service. And Srila Prabhupada gave the example that these assets are zeros, and zero plus zero plus zero plus zero equals zero. But if you put a one in front of all those zeros, you get a thousand, and that one is Krishna. So, when these assets are used in Krishna’s service, they have value. But if not, like the Second Canto of The Bhāgavatam says, they are just like a turban on a drowning man that just causes him to sink faster. But still, without Krishna, this part of the purport is about without Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, the four principles of material advancement, namely (1) high parentage, (2) good wealth, (3) high education and attractive beauty, are, so to speak, disqualifications for progress on the path of spiritual advancement. The material covering of the spirit soul is an external feature, as much as fever is an external feature of the unhealthy body. The general process is to decrease the degree of the fever and not to aggravate it by maltreatment. Sometimes it is seen that spiritually advanced persons become materially impoverished.

COMMENT

There was a very interesting discussion. Maharaja Parīkṣit asked Śukadeva Gosvami, “Lord Vishnu is the husband of the Goddess of fortune, He is the most opulent person, but often it is seen that His devotees are poor. And Lord Shiva lives like a poverty-stricken person, he doesn’t even have a house, he just lives under a tree. Yet, although Lord Vishnu is the most opulent person, Lakshminath or Lakshmi Pati, the husband of the Goddess of fortune, often it’s seen that His devotees are poor. And although Lord Shiva is poverty-stricken and lives under a tree, often it is seen that his devotees are very opulent materially. So, how to understand this contradiction?”

And Śukadeva Gosvami referred this matter, or referred for the answer, to a conversation that took place between Maharaja Parīkṣit’s grandfather, Maharaja Yudhisthira, and Lord Krishna. Maharaja Yudhisthira asked Lord Krishna, “Why is it that Your devotees are often put into stressful situations?” He didn’t say it openly, but indirectly, he was referring to his situation. The Pandavas were cheated out of their kingdom, they were sent into exile, they suffered so many reversals. And Lord Krishna responded with a very important verse, yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. So, he says, “Whenever I am especially favorably disposed to a devotee, the first installment of My special mercy is that I take everything away from him.” And then, in that poverty-stricken condition, he is rejected by his family and friends, and he comes to the right conclusion of surrendering to Krishna and taking shelter of Krishna’s devotees. So, sometimes Krishna will arrange for His devotee to become akiñcana, and that is His mercy. So, coming back to the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

The general process is to decrease the degree of the fever and not aggravate it by maltreatment. Sometimes it is seen that spiritually advanced persons become materially impoverished. This is no discouragement. On the other hand, such impoverishment is a good sign as much as the falling of temperature is a good sign. The principle of life should be to decrease the degree of material intoxication which leads one to be more and more illusioned about the aim of life. Grossly illusioned persons are quite unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God.

COMMENT

So, our goal, ultimately, is to enter the kingdom of God and serve Krishna, in one of the eternal relationships that devotees can have for Him. But that is possible only when we give up our material attachments, or to put it in another way, only when our attachment for Krishna is stronger than any other attachment. And often, transferring our attachment to Krishna begins with transferring our attachment to a devotee of Krishna. As stated in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, every learned man knows very well that attachment to the material is the greatest cause of bondage. But that same attachment, when transferred to a self-realized devotee, opens the door to liberation.

So, we cannot kill attachment or stop attachment, but we can transfer the attachment from material things to Krishna, Krishna’s devotees. So, the impersonalists try to stop all attachment; all thinking, feeling, desiring, which is not possible. But we can change the subject, change the content to thinking about Krishna, feeling for Krishna, desiring Krishna. And then those natural human psychological functions become spiritualized. And ultimately, we become fit for going back home, back to Godhead. So, when we chant, we should think of this verse and understand that we can chant with feeling when we feel helpless.

The Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says ātma-sainyeṣv, that the householder has his wife, children, and so on, and they are like soldiers. The Bhāgavatam calls them fallible soldiers in our fight with material nature. So, in this fight, we can’t depend on these fallible soldiers; our friends, family members, monetary assets, and so on, because they will fail us. Only Krishna will not fail us. And so, in our fight in the war with maya, we should take shelter of Krishna, and He will not fail us. And that is our process, and if we follow it as described by Queen Kunti in this verse, we will dive deep in Krishna consciousness and really relish the nectar of a pure devotional service to Krishna and His devotees. Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments? Or maybe before I end, although I sort of did end, I’ll just speak a little bit about this special mercy, yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. Krishna says that when He is especially favorably inclined to a devotee, the first installment of His special mercy is He takes everything away from the devotee.

So, Srila Prabhupada had a student, he wasn’t initiated, but he had a student or a follower, admirer, who was translating his books into Hindi. And one day, the young man with his father came to meet Srila Prabhupada in Delhi, it happened to be after the first Delhi pandal and I was there. And the father had a vice, a bad habit, you could say, of smoking. So, when the father and son came to see Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada asked the father, “Have you given up smoking?” And the father said, “No, Srila Prabhupada, I haven’t. I think I need some special mercy.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Special mercy? There is such a thing.” And then he quoted yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. “Krishna says, “When I’m especially favorably inclined to a devotee, the first installment of My special mercy is that I take everything away from him.” So, do you want special mercy?” And the man said, “No, no, Prabhupada, no, I’ll do it myself, I’ll do it myself.”

So yes, now we can take questions or comments.

Yes, Nandini Radha? Please unmute. Nandini Radha, can you unmute yourself? Do we have to do that? That’s Nitika Parmar.

Nandini Radha: Hare Krishna, Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Sorry, I could not unmute myself at that point.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Nandini Radha: Maharaja, you mentioned a very nice analogy of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. And Lord Shiva is known to be very, very benevolent, he is known as Ashutosh, and people who please him, he bestows everything upon them. So, is it possible for Lord Shiva to bless us with love of Godhead because he himself is one of the greatest devotees of Lord Krishna? Does he have the power to give us love?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. I mean, there is the Rudra sampradāya. He is the first acharya in the Rudra sampradāya. So, we can pray to Lord Shiva to give us love for Krishna. And he is also in charge of false ego. And once, His Holiness Sacinandana Swami traveled all the way to Kailash to pray to Lord Shiva to release him from false ego. But the two will go together. I mean, you can’t love God if you are full of false ego. And if you become free from false ego, then you realize your constitutional position as eternal servant of Krishna. Thank you.

Are there any other questions?

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Yes, Maharaja. Maharaja, we have a question from YouTube.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: From Naman Kashyap. He says, “Maharaja, can you kindly elaborate more on what it means to be attached to the devotees and how practically can it happen, especially for the devotees?”

Giriraj Swami: Well, by spending time with devotees. Of course, the basic precondition is that one should want to become Krishna conscious. And an important part of Krishna consciousness is the association of devotees. And as I’ve quoted before, Srila Prabhupada said that Krishna consciousness is 90 percent association. And Rupa Gosvami, in the Upadeśāmṛta, describes six exchanges of love, prīti-pūrvakam, and they include dadāti pratigṛhṇāti, giving charitable gifts and accepting gifts in charity, and bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva, offering food and taking food, and guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati, revealing one’s mind in confidence and inquiring confidentially.

So, we can engage in these activities with devotees, and prīti-pūrvakam, these are the reciprocations of love shared among devotees. And so, whether you live in the temple or not doesn’t really affect the principle. You can visit the temple and engage in those reciprocations with devotees, you can invite devotees home and engage in those reciprocations with them at your place. But yes, those are very important. And as Srila Prabhupada said, “The Krishna consciousness society is nourished by these loving exchanges.” So, they are essential. And whether you are a brahmachari in the temple or a grihastha at home, you can engage in those reciprocations, and you can become attached to devotees. And that will slacken your attachment for material things.

So, I see two more hands; Priti Radhika and Rohit Ahuja. Let’s start with Priti Radhika.

Priti Radhika dasi: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Priti Radhika dasi: So, in the purport, you had read that somebody who is materially satisfied may not chant with that much affection or devotion like a person who’s in a helpless situation. And in my personal experience, when I go through harder times, my surrender is of a different level, my sadhana is of different level. Like Vaisesika Prabhu used to say, “Cant with love and attention.” I did not understand what that really means till I went through hard times. But as devotees, we know, we actually are in a habudubu situation, things go better. We breathe when we come out of the water, we dunk in the water again. But when things get better, we lose that and sometimes we become mechanical. So, how do we retain that learning? That I maintain a diary and I write in it, and I try to go back. But what else can we do to ensure that our chanting actually comes with affection?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we should remember that we are always in a vulnerable position in the material world. Like you gave that example that Srila Prabhupada gave, that we are dumped under water and then we come up, we ask for some fresh air, and then we are dumped in the water again. That’s a type of punishment. But yeah, we should be aware that we are in a vulnerable position, and that actually, we don’t possess anything. In one sense, we are all akiñcana because we don’t really possess anything, everything belongs to Krishna. And if we think we possess something, that is an illusion. And if we are aware, “Everything belongs to Krishna, nothing belongs to me,” then we won’t have the sense of false proprietorship and false prestige, and will feel helpless and chant with feeling. But it’s easy to get intoxicated because we are prone to that, but we should be sober and realize that we have nothing except Krishna and chant in that mood.

Priti Radhika dasi: Can I quickly ask another thing to that note? So, surrender. I was trying to dive deeper into the humility and tolerance in respect to the aspect of tṛṇād api sunīcena, and in that, as I was reading the six limbs or items of surrender, there is humility also. So, how does humility tie into surrender to make us surrender better?

Giriraj Swami: Well, if you are humble and realize your dependence on Krishna, then it’s easy to surrender to Him. But if you are proud, “Why do I have to surrender to Krishna? I can do well enough on my own.” So, humility is an essential part of Śaraṇāgati, of surrender, absolutely.

Priti Radhika dasi: Thank you so much, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Priti Radhika dasi: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Rohit Ahuja?

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Rohit, unmute yourself. If you can, unmute yourself.

Rohit Ahuja: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you for the wonderful class, please accept my humble obeisances. My question is, our curiosity is, how can we increase our love for Srila Prabhupada, and how did Srila Prabhupada want us to be?

Giriraj Swami: Well, you can increase your love for Srila Prabhupada by following his instructions. And how he wanted you to be is explained in his books. So, I would say if you read his books and follow his instructions, your love for him will increase. And also, if you learn about him as a person, as you can from reading Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta or other books by his disciples, but Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta is special because it covers Srila Prabhupada from the beginning to the end and it’s written in a very beautiful way, you can also develop your love for him.

In Juhu, when I was the temple president and Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta came out, many people came to me and said that they could never really understand Srila Prabhupada’s books until they read the Līlāmṛta. And then they could understand Srila Prabhupada, and then they could understand the significance of his books. And then, watching the videos of Srila Prabhupada. Yadubara Prabhu has a whole series called, “Following Srila Prabhupada.” And if you see the series, you’ll definitely become attached to Srila Prabhupada. So, to know him is to love him, and you can get to know him through his books and through the books about him, and through the videos we have. Please do that.

Premanjana dasa: Hare Krishna, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Maharaja, there are a couple of questions on our YouTube, from our YouTube viewers also, and from our temple hall as well. Can I ask them quickly, Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Okay, yeah, we can come back to Zoom.

Premanjana dasa: This question is asked by Pavitra Hari Prabhu. “How to build trust among devotees if there is unhealthy competition for results in preaching?”

Giriraj Swami: Well, in context, Srila Prabhupada encouraged transcendental competition, but he did say that cooperation is a higher principle than competition. And once, when the competition in Chicago became very unpleasant, Srila Prabhupada said that if the devotees cannot maintain good feelings for each other in the course of transcendental competition and book distribution, then they should just stop the book distribution and sit down in the temple and chant and hear together. So, he definitely didn’t want the transcendental competition to create bad feelings among the devotees, to the point that he was ready to stop the book distribution just to allow the devotees to rectify their relationships with one another.

Premanjana dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. There is another question by Subhir Prabhu, “Krishna and His devotees are very compassionate and merciful. As a grihastha, how do we understand this particular verse when we have so many responsibilities and we don’t get affected by the wealth given by Krishna?”

Giriraj Swami: Sorry, can you repeat that?

Premanjana dasa: “As a grihastha, how do we understand this verse when we have so many responsibilities?” And he has written further, “And we don’t get affected by wealth given by Krishna.” I think he is asking how not to get affected by wealth that is given by Krishna in a grihastha ashram.

Giriraj Swami: Well, Queen Kunti was in grihastha ashram. What we are talking about is really a matter of consciousness. And if by Krishna’s grace you get wealth, then you should use it in Krishna’s service and not falsely consider it to be your property, but take it to be a facility offered to you by Krishna to enable you to do some service.

Premanjana dasa: Maybe there are three hands raised here, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Premanjana dasa: Karuna Diedericks, you can go ahead with your question. Karuna Mataji, please.

Karuna Diedericks: Alright, I just started putting my hand down because Maharaja answered the question in the last one. But my question was similar in that, I would like to know more about wealth. Once, I heard Guru Maharaja saying that the special mercy is to take everything away, but when Krishna sees that you are responsible for using the money in Krishna’s service, He will start giving you more. And so, it’s to understand the management of it, so that there is a balance between one’s own personal needs and using it in Krishna’s service?

Giriraj Swami: Well, the first premise is correct in the story of Bali Maharaja. At first, Krishna took everything away from him, and then He gave it back and more. So, during the earlier part of the pastime, there are many verses and purports in which Srila Prabhupada comments that it was Krishna’s mercy that He took everything away from Bali Maharaja. But in the end, when Bali Maharaja surrendered, Prabhupada writes that that was the real mercy. When Bali Maharaja surrendered, Krishna could give him everything back and more, and know that he would use it for Krishna. And as far as striking the proper balance between using money for our needs and for Krishna’s service, we should place ourselves in a normal position for us. A brahmachari can live with less facility, and a grihastha may require more facility. But still, in general, we should live modestly and we can be comfortable but not extravagant, and save as much money as we can for Krishna’s service.

Karuna Diedericks: I think also the idea of Krishna taking everything away, that immediately gives, I think for most of us, like the man in the example of the cigarettes, there is this idea of this being a very jarring, harsh experience, and perhaps there is also some way of looking up at it when it’s more gradual and it’s more like helping you to give things up?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean, Srila Prabhupada said that first, Krishna tested him by taking everything away, and then Krishna tested him by giving him everything. And it’s also said that Krishna will only take something away from a devotee to give him something better. So, we should have that faith. I mean, we are in the world of duality and we have our ups and downs, or our business has its ups and downs, our relationships have their ups and downs. But our true relationship is with Krishna, and our true security is in Krishna. As Krishna tells Arjuna in the Gītā, tans-titikṣhasva bhārata, you have to tolerate these ups and downs because they will be there, we can’t stop them. No matter how Krishna conscious you are, externally, there will be ups and downs. Even in the Juhu struggle, Srila Prabhupada faced so many downs, so many obstacles, so many reversals, but he persevered and he was successful.

So, who is next?

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you, Maharaja, for your inspirational class. Maharaja, I have one question. Actually, being a temple resident myself, I want to ask what are the practices you adopt, Maharaja? Because you went through the brahmachari life, then the sannyasa ashram, being there with so many devotees. What are the various practices you adopt in your chanting so that we can also improve our chanting or devotional services by this?

Giriraj Swami: As far as possible, chant early in the morning. I mean, for many years, until fairly recently, I lived in temples. And so, we would be at maṅgala-ārati at 4:30, and then after maṅgala-ārati and the Nṛsiṁha prayers and tulasi-puja, we would chant japa. And it’s good to chant with the devotees. As long as they are serious about chanting, which they should be, and they don’t disturb you while you are chanting, they don’t become, as we say, japa terrorists, then it’s nice to chant with devotees who are serious about chanting.

But one thing when you mentioned remaining brahmachari, before I heard the end of your question, I thought of an instruction that Srila Prabhupada gave, that if you want to remain brahmachari, you should maintain good relations with everyone. So, I used to think, What is the connection? And I thought of two. One connection is that we usually come in conflict with others when we are influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance. But if we are in the mode of goodness, then we can just keep good relations with everyone. And the other is that if we fight with devotees, we commit offenses. And one of the results of committing offenses is that you become affected by material desires. So, I just thought that was a very good instruction. And even before hearing it, just my nature or tendency was that I kept good relations with everyone.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Thank you so much, Maharaja. It’s been a wonderful enlivening class, Maharaja. Just only last question, Maharaja. You have been the president of Juhu temple, and we all know the kind of problems you all went through, the challenges you faced. And you were the president, and you said you could maintain good relations also. So, being a president, managing all the devotees, it’s a very hard task, a big challenge. So, can you give some few tips, Maharaja? While we are managing, sometimes committing an offense is kind of an occupational hazard, sometimes it’s unavoidable. So, if you can please enlighten us, Maharaja, on that?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah. I mean, just feel yourself to be the humble servant of the servant of the servant. And even if you make a decision that a devotee doesn’t like, but if they see how sincere you are in your desire to serve Srila Prabhupada, they’ll accept it by and large. I mean, I was told quite early on, and it was a good bit of advice, that the way we control the devotees is by preaching. In other words, by convincing them that it’s in their interest to cooperate, which it is. So, those would be my little bits of advice.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Thank you, Maharaja, thank you.

Giriraj Swami: There are still two hands up that I see; Malati dasi and Radha Priya dasi who’s under the name of Reshma Singh. Let’s start with Malati dasi.

Malati dasi: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Thank you so much for an amazing class. My question is, why is Krishna [Unintelligible 01:26:39]?

Giriraj Swami: Malati, sometimes the audio is not so clear. Is there something you can do with it?

Malati dasi: Is it okay now, Guru Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, that’s much better.

Malati dasi: Okay, I’ll get back to the question.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, start from the beginning.

Malati dasi: Okay, Guru Maharaja. By Krishna is testing you, you know that Krishna is doing the best for you, in the way that He is purifying you or He loves you more, He is getting you closer to Him. But then, sometimes the pain is stretched to so much that you cannot bear that pain. And then you feel that the prayers come out from your heart, “Please Krishna give me a break for some time,” it’s so hard taking this pain. But that time, how should you act? I understand tat te ‘nukampāṁ, you have to honestly wait for Krishna’s mercy and patiently bear the pain, but still, that time you have to imbibe all the qualities of a devotee when you are facing so much. So, I just want to know, how should we act at that very moment?

Giriraj Swami: Well, you yourself gave the example. I mean, that verse, tat te ‘nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo, is perfect. So, why don’t you follow your own prescription? It was a perfect prescription. And take shelter of the holy names. I mean, sometimes we react because of our mental conditioning, but if we take shelter of the holy names, then that should help purify our hearts, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ, and help us see things in perspective, tat te ‘nukampāṁ. I mean, there is a saying, I think even Sridhara Swami quoted it, “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.”

Premanjana dasa: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. There is another question on YouTube, which has been asked by Akash Prabhu. He asked, “Sometimes, due to our insincere attitude in bhakti, our teachers may get externally angry or disappointed with us for our benefit. So, how can we understand that it is their mercy with a proper attitude and be a better devotee? We understand their mood philosophically, but emotionally, it shatters us.”

Giriraj Swami: Well, it reminds me of an incident in Juhu, very early. A devotee, Malati devi dasi, she is senior to me, she reported to Srila Prabhupada that the Deities were being neglected. And Srila Prabhupada wrote such a heavy letter. And he said, “This is an abominable affair.” And I was shattered. And so, I wrote Srila Prabhupada. I mean, I tried to summon my consciousness in spite of the fact that I was so distraught, and then Srila Prabhupada wrote back a very nice letter. Let me find it in my book. Okay, so I’ll read this little excerpt.

“To protect the Deities and Their paraphernalia, a devotee stood guard all night, but one night in April, the devotee on duty fell asleep and some thieves slipped under the canvas and stole the Deities’ crowns and flute. There was no door—the pandal was really just a tent.”

Because we didn’t really have anything at that stage, so we made a temporary pandal.

“So, the robbers had just walked in, stepped over the sleeping brahmachari, taken the flute and crowns, and left. When Prabhupada heard about the incident, he wrote me, ‘I’ve got some reports that the Deities in Bombay are being much neglected. This is the most abominable affair. Radha and Krishna should never be neglected or left unprotected, so I’m wondering what you have done to rectify the situation. I have heard that Madhudvisa intervened to get the Deities a better place, so he has done nicely.’ 

My mind was reeling. I was shaken to the core that Prabhupada criticized me so severely, saying that the Deities were neglected and calling the situation abominable. Still, I tried to maintain my spirit and formulate a proper reply.”

So, then there is a little discussion about that. I have to find his letter. Okay, here it is.

“I was affected by all the criticism from the other devotees, and most of all, from Prabhupada himself. And Prabhupada, understanding my heart, in his next letter, explained his service to me in such a way that I could appreciate his criticism, which was clearly meant for my benefit. ‘Actually,’ he wrote, ‘It is the duty of the spiritual master to find fault with his students so that they may make progress, not that he should always be praising them. So, if you find some criticism, kindly accept it in that spirit. I am only interested that you, along with all my other students, should become Krishna conscious.’”

And then I say, “His words and sincere desire acted upon my heart, and it influenced me to improve my efforts.”

Premanjana dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. There is another question by Akshay Prabhu, and he says, “When we are away from the devotees, we usually develop respect and we feel separation. But why are we unable to maintain that respect and separation when we associate on a regular basis with devotees?”

Giriraj Swami: I think the problem comes when we forget that they are devotees. When you are separated from them, you realize the value of their association as devotees. But as it is said, familiarity breeds contempt. If we become too familiar and start seeing them as ordinary people and not as devotees, then we may develop that offensive mentality or contemptuous mentality. So, we should always appreciate the devotees. And I often suggest that if someone is failing to appreciate the devotees sufficiently, they should go out on book distribution and see what the non-devotees are like. And then, after they experience that, they’ll appreciate the devotees.

Premanjana dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. There is another question, “How can we deal with constant fear since there are so many casualties around? Even when we chant, it’s like fear is taking over love for Krishna.”

Giriraj Swami: What do you mean? Spiritual casualties?

Premanjana dasa: No, the material casualties in the world that are happening around us. That even when we chant, fear seems to take over the love for Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Well, your chanting is your time with Krishna, and you shouldn’t be distracted by other thoughts. And those thoughts are pretty useless because you can’t do anything about those casualties anyway. I mean, you can take precautions so you don’t become a casualty, but all the other casualties are done, you can’t do anything about them. And Srila Prabhupada says that fear comes from worrying about the future, but then he says a devotee has no fear, because his future is very bright.

So, in Bhagavad-gītā 10.4–5, purport, he writes. . .

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Fear is due to worrying about the future. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no fear because by his activities he is sure to go back to the spiritual sky, back home, back to Godhead. Therefore his future is very bright. Others, however, do not know what their future holds; they have no knowledge of what the next life holds. So they are therefore in constant anxiety. If we want to get free from anxiety, then the best course is to understand Kṛṣṇa and be situated always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In that way we will be free from all fear.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37) it is stated, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād: fear is caused by our absorption in the illusory energy. But those who are free from the illusory energy, those who are confident that they are not the material body, that they are spiritual parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who are therefore engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Godhead, have nothing to fear. Their future is very bright.

COMMENT

So, the cure for fear is Krishna consciousness. And by allowing one’s fears to overtake one when one is chanting, and therefore to allow his fears to be an obstacle to his progress in Krishna consciousness, is contradictory. It’s the opposite of what you need. So, my simple advice is just chant and be happy. Don’t be afraid.

Premanjana dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. And there is one hand raised by Reshma Singh Mataji. You can go ahead and ask your question.

Reshma Singh: Hare Krishna, Maharaja, please accept my obeisances. You were speaking about false ego and humility early on in your class. I was just wondering how do you preach to somebody who’s on that level of false ego, in that state of pride, when a person feels they are in control of everything? How do you help them get off that platform and become more humble?

Giriraj Swami: Well, Srila Prabhupada would quote Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati, his method of preaching, which he said we should also adopt. And Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati says 
dante nidhāya trṇakam padayor nipatya, “I take the straw in my teeth,” that’s a sign of abject humility, “And I fall at your feet.” Dante nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor, śataṁ kṛtvā ca ahaṁ bravīmi, “And I flatter you a hundred times.” So, when you do that, the person generally becomes interested to hear what you say. They think, This person is really perceptive and appreciates my wonderful qualities. And then, he sādhavaḥ, “O sadhu, O great personality,” sakalam eva vihāya dūrāt, “Whatever you have learned, cast it far away, kick it off,” caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam, “And just become attached to Lord Chaitanya.”

So, sometimes we have to adopt that method of flattering them to begin with, and then we come to the conclusion, just forget all that stuff and surrender to Lord Chaitanya. I mean, that’s a general approach. Of course, we could fine-tune it for specific cases. When you flatter them, they become very eager, “You are flattering me so much, you are appreciating me so much, yes, yes, what do you want to say? I want to hear what you want to say.” “Whatever you’ve learned, kick it far away, just become attached to Lord Chaitanya.”

Premanjana dasa: Maharaja, there is another question by Piyush Prabhu. He is asking, “It seems that it is easier to find people to preach to and seniors to learn from, but difficult to find devotee friends with whom to have a close relationship with.”

Giriraj Swami: Well, it’s a good question because he understands the need for all three. In fact, that is the quality of a madhyam bhakta, prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā. Prema—he gives his love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, maitrī—he makes friendship with the devotees, kṛpā—he shows mercy to the innocent by preaching to them and engaging them in devotional service, and upekṣāḥ–he neglects the envious. I mean, having friends is a very important part of Krishna consciousness. I don’t know the particulars of the situation, but it would seem that there is always the possibility to have friendships with devotees. And then those friendships are nourished by those six loving exchanges we discussed.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti

guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati

bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva

ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

COMMENT

So, I don’t know, maybe you have to make more of an effort.

Premanjana dasa: Maharaja, he continues to ask, “As soon as we come in the way of the other person’s material or spiritual gain, it’s difficult to stay bonded. While I try my best to maintain an attitude of servant, I sometimes wonder how one can satisfy the need of such association.”

Giriraj Swami: Well, why should you come in the way of their spiritual advancement, their spiritual progress? I mean, I wouldn’t want to have someone as a friend who was getting in the way of my spiritual progress, I don’t think that’s a very good thing to do. In general, it’s probably not a good idea to come in the way of someone’s material progress either. Because what is material? If their progress is used in Krishna’s service, then it’s not material anymore. So, I think encourage your friends’ progress, don’t discourage it, and then they’ll want you to be their friend.

Premanjana dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. There is another question, “How to accept shelter of the holy name in difficult situations rather than dealing with the issue? Sometimes we forget about taking shelter and all attention is on dealing with the issue. In such a scenario, how can we take shelter of the holy names?”

Giriraj Swami: Well, even if we want to deal with an issue, and we have to sometimes, of course, we need Krishna’s mercy to be able to deal with it properly and to get a good result. And to get Krishna’s mercy, we want to chant His holy name, that’s one of the basic ways that we approach Krishna for His mercy. So, the two should not be in opposition to each other, but they should be complementary to each other, they should work together. Don’t keep Krishna or the holy name out of the equation when you are trying to deal with issues.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Thank you so much, Maharaja. Can I ask a question? I have a question, Maharaja, from your talk, on this very nice verse. So, the essential aspect of diving deep in Krishna consciousness, what I could understand was to chant with feeling. And to chant with feeling, I have to be feeling helpless. So, when it’s going bad, okay, sometimes things are not going as per our wish, we feel helpless. And sometimes when the things are going as per how we are feeling, we are the controllers. So, how to always remain in this state, Maharaja? Only then we can go deep in Krishna consciousness.

Giriraj Swami: I think we have to realize that, again, we are in a vulnerable position in the material world, and the only shelter is Krishna and the holy name and Krishna consciousness, and that our success in any endeavor depends on Krishna’s mercy. We are dependent on Krishna and we are happy to depend on Krishna. We don’t want to be under any illusions that we are the controllers or the proprietors or the enjoyers, but we are happy to be Krishna’s servants and we are happy to work under His protection and with His mercy. I was just thinking of the verse towards the end of the Bhagavad-gītā in which Krishna says, “In all activities, in the end, for their results, just depend on Me and work always under My protection.” That's very good advice.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Thank you so much, Maharaja, it’s really helpful. So, Premanjana Prabhu, are there any questions left on YouTube?

Premanjana dasa: Not on YouTube, they are complete. Perhaps in Zoom, this meeting. There is a question in the chat box from Vijay. “As you described, the devotees of Lord Krishna are materially poor, but in the case of Sudama, when he approached Krishna with devotion, He made him rich. So, how do I understand this?”

Giriraj Swami: As I mentioned earlier and as Srila Prabhupada said about himself, Krishna tested him first by taking everything away, and then by giving him everything. And in the case of Bali Maharaja also, Krishna took everything away, and then He gave him everything, including Himself.

In the case of Sudama Vipra, he had no material desire, but Krishna gave him everything. But Sudama was very wary of forgetting Krishna in his materially opulent position, and he prayed to Krishna to give him the benediction that he would not forget Krishna in the midst of all the opulence. And Krishna gave him that benediction. So, that’s the condition. A devotee may not want the opulence, the Lord may want him to have opulence. And the devotee can accept it in the spirit of service to the Lord, on the condition that he won’t forget the Lord in his opulent condition.

I mean, Krishna is very personal in His dealings with His devotees; what He gives them, what He doesn’t give them, what He takes from them, what He gives them back. He is very sensitive in His feelings and very personal, and He does what’s best for His devotee. Whereas Lord Shiva, we heard he is Ashutosh, he is very easily pleased. He can give benedictions that in the end are not good for the person whom he’d benedicted or for others. Because in that way, he is not so considerate. Krishna is considerate and He won’t give you anything that’s not good for you. And if He takes something from you, it’s only to give you something better.

Premanjana dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. There is one last question in the chat section by Madanmohan Priya Mataji. “Daṇḍavat-praṇāmās, Maharaja. Thank you for the inspiring lecture. As a practitioner of sādhana-bhakti, it is sometimes difficult to practice while in a state of so much anxiety. What can be done in that case?”

Giriraj Swami: It is difficult to practice when you are in too much anxiety. But why should you be in so much anxiety? We just read about fear and anxiety. Maybe I need to read it again, I don’t know if she heard it.

Premanjana dasa: Maybe she can respond? Mataji, you can unmute yourself.

Madanmohan Priya: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Yes, I have heard it, so no need to repeat it.

Giriraj Swami: Then why would you be in anxiety?

Madanmohan Priya: Maharaja, actually, the answer that you gave to one of the Mataji regarding fear, that answered my question, actually. I wrote it previously. So, your answer, it also answered my question in regards to fear. Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Good, thank you. Hare Krishna.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Thank you so much, Maharaja. We are fully blessed by your association. We are looking forward to having your physical association also here. We are praying. We have Deities here called Radha Radhika-ramana and Krishna-Balarama, if you remember. So, we are praying to Them to have your association as soon as possible.

Giriraj Swami: Wow, I have small Radha-Krishna Deities called Radhika Radhika-ramana.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Yes, Maharaja. We have all the books of Maharaja at our gift shop in Punjabi Bagh, the copies are very limited and the special edition is the latest book of Maharaja’s on which Maharaja has worked very hard with very wonderful stories and historical account of the Juhu temple. How the land was acquired, what kind of struggles Srila Prabhupada went through, what kind of hardships Maharaja went through, and how Maharaja saw Srila Prabhupada personally struggling to get the land and the construction, and so on. It is an outpour of love from Maharaja, an offering to Prabhupada.

So, if devotees want to have this book, we have limited copies, and other books also, Watering the Seed, Many Moons, and Life’s Final Exam. And Watering the Seed, we have the Hindi edition also. So, those who want these copies can get it from the gift shop. And Maharaja, personally, I will be waiting for you to get my copy signed by you. I had gotten Watering the Seed personally signed by you, so I look forward to that moment when I can get your blessings in the way of signature.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Rukmini Krsna dasa: Thank you so much, Maharaja, for giving so much of your valuable time to us. And it was really very helpful how to chant nicely, how important it is to have devotees’ association, value their association, and how not to take devotees for granted. Thank you.

Premanjana dasa: Maharaja, we had contacted you for the photographs from Many Moons book. So, thank you, Maharaja, for providing them. A few years back, we put them up in the ashram.

Giriraj Swami: Oh, yeah, good.