SB 7.5.12

Host: Hare Krishna devotees, on behalf of all the Pakistan devotees, we really welcome you from the bottom of our heart. Thank you so much for coming and giving your blessings to all of us. So please, I will leave this program to you now. So how do you want to conduct?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I will begin with singing maṅgalācaraṇa prayers and lead small kirtan, and discuss from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 

[Prayers]

We shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Seven, Chapter Five, “Prahlāda, the saintly son of Hiraṇyakaśipu.”

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,

COMMENT

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said, jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’, the constitutional position of the living entity is that he is the eternal servant of the Krishna. 

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.

COMMENT

My dear godbrother Bhurijana Prabhu has very nicely described this mentality. He says, “It is as if with this psychology of being the center, excuse me, I have a very important message. I am the center of the universe and everyone should do what I want.” Another example that Bhurijana Prabhu gave is that we envision our lives like a drama or a movie. And each of us thinks that we are the hero or the heroine of the movie, and that everyone else is the supporting cast and they are meant to support me in my adventures and my exploits. So, you can imagine how much conflict there will be because I am thinking I am the hero of this movie, you are meant to support me, and the other one is thinking, “No, you are not the hero, I am the hero, you are supposed to support me.” And the third one is thinking, “No, no, no, I am actually the hero, and you are supposed to support me.” So, there is false competition for supremacy among the conditioned souls. So now, I will go back to the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

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

Yes, if someone supports me in my attempt to be the center, then they are my friend, and if someone doesn’t help me in my effort to be the center, then they become my enemy.

PURPORT (continued)

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.”

COMMENT

One of the first lectures of Srila Prabhupada that I heard when I began to associate with the devotees in Boston, he gave a very nice example. Srila Prabhupada said that if you drop a stone in a pool of water, so many concentric circles will radiate from that central point. If someone else drops a stone in that pool of water, again so many concentric circles will expand from that central point. But because the central points are different, the waves will overlap and conflict. But if we drop all the stones in the same place, then the concentric circles will not conflict and overlap, but they will be in harmony. So, when we make ourselves the center, then there is so much conflict. But when we accept that Krishna is the center, then there is no conflict.

PURPORT (continued)

Demons think of everyone as a friend or enemy,

COMMENT

So we should examine ourselves. Do we have that demonic mentality of friends and enemies?

PURPORT (continued)

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 Vaishnavas sees everyone as eternal servant of Krishna. But demons, or ordinary materialistic people, see themselves as the center, not Krishna as the center. And according to how other people either support us or don’t support us, we consider them to be friends or enemies. We can correct this mentality by spreading Krishna consciousness, by preaching the philosophy of Krishna consciousness and especially by distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Distribution of Prabhupada’s books is a very important method for correcting the demonic mentality of the present population.

PURPORT (continued)

Everyone should come to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus feel oneness as a servant of the Lord. 

COMMENT

Because a devotee knows that the real identity of the living entity is the soul, the ātmā, the jīvātmā, and the soul is the eternal servant of Krishna.

PURPORTS (continued)

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. 

COMMENT

Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā that He is in everyone’s heart, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo. So, when we see others, not only those in human bodies but any living entity in any form of life, we should be aware that Krishna is there with that living entity, that the Super Soul is there along with the individual soul.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

So, here Srila Prabhupada is indirectly referring to Lord Chaitanya’s sublime philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which means inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference. The oneness is that we are one in quality, and the difference is that we are different in quantity because God is infinite and we are infinitesimal. Infinite means unlimitedly great and infinitesimal means infinitely small. So because we have the same qualities, we can have a relationship with God. But because He is great and we are small, the relationship is that He is the master and we are the servants.

PURPORT (continued)

This is also ekatvam. Thus the conception of ekatvam for the Vaiṣṇava is different from that of the Māyāvādī.

COMMENT

The Vaishnava’s conception of oneness is that we are all one because we are all eternal servants of Krishna. We are individual, but we are eternal servants of Krishna. Whereas Mayavada conception or the impersonal conception is that we become one by merging into the impersonal brahman or the light, and we lose our individuality. Prabhupada fought fiercely against that conception, and we praise and worship Srila Prabhupada with his praṇāma mantra, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe. He is delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.

PURPORT (continued)

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

The history here is that Hiraṇyakaśipu had a brother named Hiraṇyakṣa, and Hiraṇyakṣa was killed by Vishnu in the form of Varahadeva. So I will read it: “When a family member is killed by an enemy, all the members of the family would naturally be inimical to the murderer.” In other words, Prahlada’s uncle had been killed by Vishnu, so one would expect that Prahlada should be against Vishnu like his father was. But to the contrary, he was friendly to Vishnu. We are discussing friends and enemies here. So Hiraṇyakaśipu was the enemy of Vishnu, and Prahlada should have sided with his father and uncle and also been an enemy of Vishnu. But to the contrary, he was a friend of Vishnu, or a devotee of Vishnu. And Vishnu or Krishna, is the friend of everyone, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, Krishna is the friend of every living entity. He is not the enemy of anyone, but people wrongly consider Him to be their enemy when they become demonic.

PURPORT (continued)

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.”

COMMENT

So, Hiraṇyakaśipu asked his son Prahlada what was the best thing he had learned from his teachers. Prahlada’s teachers were demons, they were the sons of Sukracharya, the guru of the demons, Amarka and Shanda. So when Hiraṇyakaśipu asked his son Prahlada what was the best thing he had learned, Prahlada replied, “śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam,” which are the nine processes of devotional service to Vishnu. When Hiraṇyakaśipu heard this answer, devotional service to Vishnu, whom he considered to be his enemy, he became angry. He called for the boy’s teachers, and Hiraṇyakaśipu accused them that, “You are teaching my son Prahlada service to Vishnu. This is wrong.” The teachers said, “No, we are not teaching him service to Vishnu.” Then Hiraṇyakaśipu said, “Then you are allowing Vaishnavas in disguise to enter into the school and influence my son.” The teachers replied, “No, we are not allowing Vaishnavas to enter into the school.” Hiraṇyakaśipu challenged, “Then how he learned this?” The teachers said, “We don’t know. You better ask him.” So, Hiraṇyakaśipu asked Prahlada. And Prahlada Maharaja gave a very interesting reply. He said that one cannot become Krishna conscious by one’s own efforts, by the efforts of others, or by the combined efforts of oneself and others. I will read his exact words, just to give you the mood.

“Śrī Nārada Muni continued: When Hiraṇyakaśipu received this reply from the teacher, he again addressed his son Prahlāda. Hiraṇyakaśipu said: You rascal, most fallen of our family, if you have not received this education from your teachers, where have you gotten it?”

Prahlada Maharaja replied, matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā. Matir na kṛṣṇe means inclinations towards Krishna or Krishna consciousness. And parataḥ means from the instructions of others, and svato vā—by my own efforts, or mithaḥ—by combined effort. So logically, it seems that all possibilities have been eliminated. He didn’t become Krishna conscious by his own efforts or by the efforts of others or by the combined efforts of himself and others. So how did he become Krishna conscious? Prahlada replied with these beautiful words.

ŚB 7.5.32

naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat

TRANSLATION

Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.

In other words, one cannot become Krishna conscious by one’s own efforts or the efforts of others or the combined efforts of oneself and others, but one can become Krishna conscious only by receiving the mercy of a devotee, rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ—by bathing oneself in the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee. So indirectly, Prahlada was telling his father, “You don’t need to worry about becoming Krishna conscious because you are too proud. You will never bow down at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava.” So, Humility is required.

Once a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada that, Lord Chaitanya’s Śikṣāṣṭakam is so important, they give us all instructions about how to advance in devotional service, but the spiritual master is so important to advance in devotional service, but we don’t see any mention of the spiritual master in the Śikṣāṣṭakam.” Prabhupada replied that, “It is implied in the third verse, tṛṇād api su-nīcena, one should be more humble than a blade of grass.” Srila Prabhupada said, “If you are humble, then naturally you will seek out a spiritual master. Because being humble, you know that you cannot figure things out by yourself, but you need help from a guru.” So now we come back to the purport to today’s verse.

PURPORT (continued)

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). 

COMMENT

And the Lord becomes favorable when the Lord’s devotee is favorable. And then the mercy of the Lord follows the mercy of the devotee. First, one receives the mercy of devotee then mercy of the Lord follows the mercy of the devotee.

PURPORT (continued)

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. 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’).

COMMENT

So, my dear devotees, please take note of this important instruction.

PURPORT (continued)

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?

COMMENT

Now, here in the last paragraph of the purport, Srila Prabhupada tells us how we should think and relate to one another as devotees.

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, Srila Prabhupada has explained the difference between transcendental competition and mundane competition. In mundane competition, there is envy, and one does not acknowledge the good qualities or the good service of the others. But in transcendental competition or Vaikuntha competition, one acknowledges the good qualities and service of the other, but still one wants to do better than the other in order to give more pleasure to Krishna. But one acknowledges the good qualities and service of the other.

PURPORT (continued)

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. 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.

Giriraj Swami: So, we can develop this consciousness in two ways. One is by hearing the philosophy of Krishna consciousness as we are doing now, and the other is by offenselessly chanting the holy names. When we chant offenselessly the holy name, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, all the dust becomes cleansed from the mirror of the mind, and when the dust or dirt is removed, we can see who we actually are. And we will see that we are eternal servants of Krishna, and that all other living entities are also eternal servants. Hare Krishna.

So now, we will take questions and comments from the participants. If you have any questions or comments, you can raise your hands.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, you mentioned that we should do offenseless chanting, so could you kindly tell us how should we do offenseless chanting so that we can progress in devotional life?

Giriraj Swami: There are ten offenses against the holy name. I sure you know what they are. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if you chant attentively, then all the other offenses will be destroyed. And if you are inattentive while chanting, the other offenses can flourish. So the key to success in offenseless chanting is to chant attentively; to articulate each name clearly and to hear each name attentively. And then you will realize, you are the eternal servant of Krishna.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Devotee: I am doing the sevā, but I am still not getting ‘preeti’ still not getting ‘preeti’ about Krishna. How can I do that? Should I leave everything for Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Should he leave everything for Krishna? Leave what?

Devotee: How can I increase the affection toward Krishna in the sevā so I forget about the other worldly things and attach more to Krishna? How can I do that?”

Giriraj Swami: Well, by following the practice of bhakti-yoga. But in the practice of bhakti-yoga, association is most important. Srila Prabhupada said that association is 90 percent of Krishna consciousness. So, the main thing is to associate with advanced devotees. Rupa Gosvami enumerates the five most potent items of devotional service—sādhu-saṅga—association with devotees; nāma-kīrtana—chanting the holy names; bhāgavata-śravaṇa—hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā; mathurā-vāsa—which means residing in Mathura or Vrindavan or some other holy place or a temple where the deity of the Lord is installed and worshiped; and mūrtira śraddhāya sevana—worshiping the deity with faith and veneration. So these are the five most potent items in devotional service. And Rupa Gosvami has given a definition of sādhu-saṅga. Sajātīyāśaye snigdhe sādhau saṅga svato vare. Sajātīyāśaye snigdhe means that one should have a similar affection for the Lord. And for us that means one should be in the line of Srila Prabhupada. Snigdhe means that sadhu should be affectionate to you. Svato vare means more advanced than you. So, by that kind of sādhu-saṅga, you can make good advancement. Someone who is more advanced than you are, someone who is affectionate to you, someone in the line of Srila Prabhupada.

So any other questions?

Devotee: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. I have a question. What is the meaning of criticism? This is a whole word, but can you explain it deeply, a little bit? And also, what is the difference between when I see myself or others’ advantages or disadvantages? How should I treat them in Krishna consciousness?

Giriraj Swami: Well, there are two kinds of criticism—constructive criticism and malicious criticism. Constructive criticism means that I want to help someone to improve by pointing out some error or defect in them. And malicious criticism means you just, out of envy, say bad things to someone, or you say bad things about someone. So, at one point early in Juhu, I made a mistake and Srila Prabhupada criticized me. And then afterwards, he wrote a letter saying that, “It is the duty of the spiritual master to criticize the disciple, not that he should always be praising him. And that my only interest is that you, along with all my other disciples, should advance in Krishna consciousness. So if you find some criticism, kindly take it in that spirit.” So that is constructive criticism.

Yes, and then what was the other question?

Devotee: The next one is, what is the difference between, for example, when I see myself and others’ advantages or disadvantages? How should I treat them in Krishna consciousness?

Giriraj Swami: What do you mean by advantages and disadvantages? Give some examples.

Devotee: Yes, for example, I do something good, or I do something wrong, something like this or I have something like this.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, so it, are you talking about yourself or others?

Devotee: Well, when I look into my heart and I see something wrong in my heart, and if I am using my eyes to see other persons who do something good or wrong, how should I treat them? For example, just how should I be in Krishna consciousness when I see such things?

Giriraj Swami: Okay, with yourself, if you see some faults in yourself, of course, you should try to improve. But depending on what it is, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself because sometimes, we take time to improve, but we should make the effort. As Rupa Gosvami says, utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt, you should be enthusiastic but also patient. And if you see some fault in others, depending on your relationship with the other person, you can point it out in a constructive way to help them improve. But if the relationship is such that they won’t appreciate hearing the criticism from you, or the correction from you, then it is probably better to just remain silent and tolerate, or maybe point out the defect to someone who is in a position to correct that person so the person can improve.

Devotee: Thank you very much. And I have one more question, if you let me.Where does offenses begin? You mentioned ten offenses, where does it begin?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I would say, it begins with being inattentive while chanting, and it ends with being attentive while chanting. There are many good instructions about how to chant. There are many nice books. Bhurijana Prabhu has written a book called Japa. His Holiness Sacinandana Swami has written books about japa. So it takes effort to improve one’s japa. And reading about how to improve, can help, certainly.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja, I am Bhagavata dasa from Pakistan. I was talking to somebody and we have heard that one who goes to Vaikuntha, doesn’t come back. But Jaya and Vijaya, they came back from Vaikuntha. So, is that we can go and come from Vaikuntha? Please clarify on that.

Giriraj Swami: Jaya and Vijaya are a special case because the Lord wanted to fight with someone, and Jaya and Vijaya wanting to fulfill the Lord’s desires, came as demons so that the Lord could fight with them. So, that is the līlā, it is the Lord’s pastime. They didn’t fall from Vaikuntha. And otherwise it is true that when you go to back to Godhead, you won’t fall down into the material world again.

Devotee: Hiraṇyakaśipu done so much worship, and so is Rāvaṇa, and he had the boon, and they became the enemy. Why can’t they just become the friend to Bhagavān?

Giriraj Swami: That is a good question. So initially, when the four Kumaras cursed Jaya and Vijaya, they were given a choice, Jaya and Vijaya were given a choice that they can spend three lifetimes as demons in the material world or seven lifetimes as devotees. But Jaya and Vijaya were eager to return to their service in Vaikuntha sooner, so they chose three lives as demons rather than seven lives as devotees. And that was also the Lord’s will because, as I mentioned, He wanted to fight with someone. And so, by Jaya and Vijaya becoming demons, He got to fulfill His desire to fight.

Devotee: Thank you for giving the nice class. You mentioned about Vaikuntha in the middle of the class. So if you can kindly tell us a little bit more about it, how we can become Vaikuntha conscious?

Giriraj Swami: Vaikuntha is the spiritual world. “Vai” means without, and “kuntha” means anxiety. Everyone in the material world is full of anxiety but in Vaikuntha, there is no anxiety. So, our goal is to go to Vaikuntha, back home back to Godhead. And we can go back home, back to Godhead by bhakti-yoga, by a combination of our efforts. Vaikuntha consciousness means you look for the good in others, and you express your appreciation for them, and this comes by practice.

Pavitra Bhakti dasi: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja. This is a question from Dayarama Prabhu. He is one of the deaf devotees who is joined us today, and he is asking that you mentioned about Krishna having all these qualities, and Krishna has sixty-four qualities. So, how many qualities does a soul have, a spirit soul, conditioned soul?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, out of the sixty-four, we have fifty. But Krishna has those in a large quantity, and we have in small quantity.

Pavitra Bhakti dasi: Okay, he is asking which ones are those, the fourteen extra ones?

Giriraj Swami: I will just explain that out of the sixty-four, Lord Narayana has sixty. And Lord Shiva has fifty-five. And we living entities, we have fifty. He is asking what the qualities are that Krishna, the extra ones. These are changeless, all-cognizant, ever-fresh, sac-cid-ānanda—possessing an eternal blissful body, and possessing all mystic perfections. And then the other five which are manifest in Narayana but not in us, of course, are: He has inconceivable potency, innumerable universes are generated from His body, He is the original source of all incarnations, He gives salvation to the enemies whom He kills, and He is the attractor of liberated souls. And then the four qualities that Krishna has that even Lord Narayana does not have, what to speak of any demigod or living entity, are: He is the performer of wonderful varieties of pastimes, especially His childhood pastimes, that is called līlā-mādhurī. He is surrounded by devotees with wonderful love of Godhead. He can attract all living entities all over the universe by playing on His flute, and He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation. So, it is a very nectarean topic. It is a wonderful question.

Translator: Guru Maharaja. He is asking the question that it is a personal question but he is there in movement for forty-five years. But he is thinking that he should see you, but rather seeing you, instead he sees the Srila Prabhupada. So it is bothering him, so you can enlighten me about this. Am I doing wrong thinking? He is thinking like, he is giving more importance to Prabhupada than your divine grace.

Giriraj Swami: That is good, that is good. He doesn’t have to worry about that. That is wonderful.

Translator: He is saying, sometimes he is thinking that he is the disciple of Prabhupada, not disciple of your divine grace.

Giriraj Swami: Prabhupada is our śikṣā-guru, so in a way that means we are his śikṣā disciples, but we are not in dīkṣā disciples.

Translator: Should we stop here?

Giriraj Swami: I couldn’t think of all the Sanskrit terms for Krishna’s four special qualities. There is like līlā-mādhurya—His wonderful pastimes, then bhakta-madhurya—His wonderful devotees, Venu-madhurya—it is wonderful flute, and rupa-madhurya—His wonderful beauty.

So, if there are no more questions or comments, we can end.

Radha Charan Prabhu: All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories to your divine grace. All glories to the wonderful devotees and wonderful classes.

Guru Maharaja, I want to add something on the last question, where the devotee was thinking Prabhupada as direct guru and not able to recognize the position, the help, and importance of our dīkṣā-guru in our life, which I also faced for a long time, but how could I get over that? I want to add, can I?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, please.

Radha Charan Prabhu: Okay, so in brief, I will speak a few points only, which came to my mind right now. How we can get connected with Prabhupada? Get our connection with Prabhupada? Who applied the teachings of Prabhupada, so that we can recognize the beauty, greatness, and uniqueness of Prabhupada’s teachings? And when we see the dedication, surrender, purity, determination, and wonderful other things also of our guru Maharaja, whether or not it helped us to recognize the greatness of Prabhupada? If our gurus are not there, then can we recognize the greatness and the uniqueness of Prabhupada’s and his teachings at all? And practically speaking, there are many gifts Prabhupada gave to us. If we analyze, then we will find the best of the gifts, apart from his books, lectures, temples, etc., etc., his disciples are the living practical example before us, which we are very fortunate in the second generation, that we observed, what is Krishna consciousness in practice, how to deal with, how to handle the situation with the seniors, juniors, others, and deal with the challenges? If you just keep aside the life of Giriraj Swami Maharaja, then how much faith we have in Prabhupada. Without him, we cannot even practice what Prabhupada has told us, how to practice. You gave the understanding and significance of the living-guru and his life is teaching us the way of life by his personality. So, this help us in our ultimate asharya, practical ashraya is our vartaman-guru. Without him, we cannot even practice what Prabhupada told us to practice.

Giriraj Swami: So, if there are no more questions or comments?

Translator: I think Madan Mohan Prabhu wants to ask something.

Madan Mohan Prabhu: Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances.

Translator: Guru Maharaja, he is asking this because of a particular reason that sometimes devotees have done guru-disciple course, studied many books. And after that, they think that they know lot and they know better teachings. When he come to Krishna consciousness, he could not understand Srila Prabhupada, he could not understand Gītā, he could not understand the philosophy. But when he came to your shelter, then he understood what the philosophy is and what Prabhupada is, what his teachings are. And there is a concern, some devotees do think that they know everything, and they don’t need a guru actually. This is Nanda Kumar’s question came up. So, this concern actually, myself and Madan Mahan Prabhu and some other senior devotees too. Sometimes people do think that way, that they don’t need a dīkṣā-guru. So, they think that when they study this, they have done a few courses, maybe what are the courses are going on at the moment in ISKCON. And after doing these courses, particularly about guru disciple course they do, and after that, they think that actually, institution or direct question is, they think the GBC is better than the, is actually replace Prabhupada. So that GBC is Prabhupada and dīkṣā-guru is not important. So, this is a question which Madan Mohan Prabhu have. Am I correct, is that right?

Madan Mohan Prabhu: Yes, absolutely.

Translator: Guru Maharaja, he is saying that he could not understood everything about Prabhupada. And whatever he is, whatever he understood, it is only because of your divine grace that he understood about Prabhupada, because the mercy of your divine grace that he is able to understand the spirit of Krishna consciousness. So, this is his concern.

Giriraj Swami: So is there a question?

Translator: He said that sometime after we doing the guru disciple course and studying so many other books, and we think that we are qualified. So, should we just take the shelter of dīkṣā-guru, or should we understood that yes, we know everything now, because we have, when this thing come in the mind? So, what is your advice if somebody thinks like this, that he knows everything, or he understood the philosophy after doing these courses like guru disciple course and others, and by reading books, he has understood? So, if that sort of thought come and do I need the dīkṣā-guru, or I don’t need him.? So, what is your advice on this matter, if these thoughts come to our mind, that we are, we become proud like, you know, with these thoughts, then what should be, how do we handle ourselves?

Giriraj Swami: In the Bhagavad-gītā, Chapter Thirteen, Verses Eight through Twelve, Lord Krishna explains the process of knowledge. Chapter Thirteen, and the first two items are, amānitvam adambhitvam, which means humility and pridelessness. And then at the end, Sri Krishna says that anything other than this, anayathā, anything other than this, is ignorance, ajnana. So, if they do not have these first two qualities of amānitvam adambhitvam, humility and pridelessness, they are in ignorance. We are discussing the importance of humility, that without humility, one will not accept a guru, one will not bow down to guru. So, if we come across such proud devotees, of course, devotees are not proud, but if we come across such proud devotees, if we are in a position, we can correct them.

Madan Mohan Prabhu: If one becomes so proud and he think that he has got so many followers, how do we correct them? How then, how can we correct that sort of person?

Giriraj Swami: Well, if they don’t want to listen to anyone, if they are so proud they don’t want to listen to anyone, then Krishna will have to correct them. But in this context, it said that the devotees are more merciful than Krishna. So, if they accept the correction from the devotees, it will be better for them. It will be easier for them. Otherwise, Krishna will correct them. And when Krishna corrects them, it might be quite brutal. It is said that one who is humble, he will be exalted, and one who thinks he is exalted, will be humbled. If somebody is humble, he will be exalted. That means he will be appreciated. Yes. And if one thinks he is exalted, one thinks he is on a higher platform, he will be humbled.

Devotee: Guru Maharaja. Oh, thank you. I got your answer.

Translator: Guru Maharaja, we are very, very grateful. But the way I see, personally, I think it is getting too late. But I am, from the bottom of my heart, and for Mother Mohan Prabhu and all the devotees, particularly, this verse which you have taught us today, 7.5.12, I think it is very, very important for all of us. And we are very proud to be your disciple because you have trained us very nicely. And hope we become more humble. And we are very proud of you. So, I think, this particular verse which you have taught us, we will try to apply in our own life. Yes, we try to apply. We will definitely try to apply this verse, and I will request to all others. And I think I never noticed this verse the way you have pointed out this verse. It was never in my mind, before this was, of course, I have read so many times the Seventh Chapter, but when you are pointing this verse out, so I think very important. It plays a very important role in our life, and we will try to follow this.

And we will be very honored, and if you can, from your busy schedule, even I know you are doing so many programs, so if not every month, and maybe after every two or three months, if you can kindly give your valuable time to the devotees for Pakistan.

Giriraj Swami: Oh yes, Pakistan is very dear to my heart.

Translator: Thank you very much. So, I think we should take permission now from guru Maharaja.

Devotee: Normally, guru Maharaja recites Vaishnava praṇāma.

Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca 

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Anant Koti Vaishnava Vrinda ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Translator: His Holiness guru Maharaja ki jaya!

Devotee: Devotees, if you want to unmute and express your gratitude to guru Maharaja, please feel free to do that.