SB 2.1.11 – The Glories of the Holy Name

Giriraj Swami: We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter One: “The First Step in God Realization,” Text Eleven.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 11

etan nirvidyamānānām
icchatām akuto-bhayam
yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ
harer nāmānukīrtanam

TRANSLATION

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

COMMENT

So my dear devotees, every one of you fits into one or more of these categories- free from all material desires, desirous of all material enjoyment or self- satisfied. So this verse and these instructions are for you.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the previous verse, the great necessity for attaining attachment to Mukunda has been accredited. There are different types of persons who desire to attain success in different varieties of pursuits. Generally the persons are materialists who desire to enjoy the fullest extent of material gratification. Next to them are the transcendentalists, who have attained perfect knowledge about the nature of material enjoyment and thus are aloof from such an illusory way of life. More or less, they are satisfied in themselves by self-realization. Above them are the devotees of the Lord, who neither aspire to enjoy the material world nor desire to get out of it. They are after the satisfaction of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the devotees of the Lord do not want anything on their personal account. If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation.

COMMENT

As Srila Prabhupada said of himself that first Krishna tested him by taking everything away from him and then Krishna tested him by giving him everything. Both are tests; if Krishna takes everything away from you, it is a test. Are you going to chase after the things that Krishna took away from you or are you going to stay with Krishna. And if Krishna gives you everything, that is also a test. Are you going to enjoy all the things that Krishna gave you, or are you going to stay with Krishna, and use what Krishna has given you for Krishna’s service?

PURPORT (continued)

In other words, the devotees of the Lord do not want anything on their personal account. If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation. Nor are they self-satisfied, because they want the satisfaction of the Lord only. In this verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord. By offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name of the Lord, one becomes acquainted with the transcendental form of the Lord, and then with the attributes of the Lord, and then with the transcendental nature of His pastimes, etc. 

COMMENT

So we begin with the holy name, but the holy name includes everything about Krishna, including rupa- his from, guna- his qualities, līlā- his pastimes, everything. So if we offenselessly chant and hear the holy name of the Lord, we can experience Krishna. Krishna will reveal himself to us.

PURPORT (continued)

Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. 

COMMENT

So this translation of Srila Prabhupada is beautiful- how he deals with the word aṇu. Aṇu means to follow, just like we are rūpānugas- we are followers of Rupa Gosvami and aṇu also means always, just like Rupa Gosvami defines pure devotional service ānuśīlanaṃ - continuous cultivation. And Srila Prabhupada has taken both meanings of aṇu, one meaning following and the other meaning always and combined them beautifully in the translation - aṇu, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord, after the ways of the great authorities, that is also aṇu.

PURPORT (continued)

Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. This means that hearing from the authorities is the first essential. Hearing of the holy name gradually promotes one to the stage of hearing about His form, His attributes, His pastimes, and so on, and thus the necessity of the chanting of His glories develops successively.

COMMENT

So śravaṇam kīrtanam - We hear than we chant.

PURPORT (continued)

This process is recommended not only for the successful execution of devotional service, but also even for those who are materially attached. According to Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, this way of attaining success is an established fact, concluded not only by him but also by all other previous ācāryas. Therefore, there is no need of further evidence.

COMMENT

Yes, it is decided; nirṇītaṁ, decided truth.

PURPORT (continued)

The process is recommended not only for the progressive students in different departments of ideological success, but also for those who are already successful in their achievement as fruitive workers, as philosophers or as devotees of the Lord.

COMMENT

So if you are trying to achieve success, then this chanting is for you and if you have already attained success then too, the chanting is for you.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī instructs that chanting of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done, and it should be performed offenselessly as well, as recommended in the Padma Purāṇa. One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord.

COMMENT

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

If you surrender to Krishna, he will protect you from all sinful reactions.

PURPORT (continued)

One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord. One can deliver himself from all offenses at the feet of the Lord by taking shelter of His holy name. But one cannot protect himself if one commits an offense at the feet of the holy name of the Lord.

COMMENT

So the holy name of Krishna is Krishna Himself. Therefore the holy name has feet.

PURPORT (continued)

One cannot protect himself if one commits an offense at the feet of the holy name of the Lord. Such offenses are mentioned in the Padma Purāṇa as being ten in number. The first offense is to vilify the great devotees who have preached about the glories of the Lord.

COMMENT

This is called sādhu-nindā . Blaspheming the devotees who have dedicated their lives to propagate the glories of the holy name.

PURPORT (continued)

The second offense is to see the holy names of the Lord in terms of worldly distinction. The Lord is the proprietor of all the universes, and therefore He may be known in different places by different names, but that does not in any way qualify the fullness of the Lord. Any nomenclature which is meant for the Supreme Lord is as holy as the others because they are all meant for the Lord. Such holy names are as powerful as the Lord, and there is no bar for anyone in any part of the creation to chant and glorify the Lord by the particular name of the Lord as it is locally understood. 

COMMENT

There was once an incidence when Srila Prabhupada visited Tehran, Iran, and his disciple Atreya Rishi dasa, waxed eloquent and was looking forward to the day when all the people of Iran would chant ‘Hare Krishna,’ and Srila Prabhupada said that, “Why do you want that they should chant only Hare Krishna? They can also chant Allah, Allah.” So Srila Prabhupada was making a strong philosophical point, the same point that he is making here in the purport. And also it was probably a practical bit of advice, because if you run around trying to get people to chant Hare Krishna, you might have got in trouble. But yes, this is the point.

PURPORT (continued)

Any nomenclature which is meant for the Supreme Lord is as holy as the others because they are all meant for the Lord. Such holy names are as powerful as the Lord, and there is no bar for anyone in any part of the creation to chant and glorify the Lord by the particular name of the Lord as it is locally understood. They are all auspicious, and one should not distinguish such names of the Lord as material commodities.

The third offense is to neglect the orders of the authorized ācāryas or spiritual masters.

COMMENT

This is guror avajñā- disobey the orders of the spiritual master, that is an offence against the holy name. 

PURPORT (continued)

The fourth offense is to vilify scriptures or Vedic knowledge.

COMMENT

Now there are different degrees of offence, as illustrated in the pastime, when the sages wanted to determine who was the Supreme - Brahma, Shiva, or Vishnu - and Bhrigu Muni went to test all three. So first he went to test Lord Brahma and Bhrigu Muni (son of Brahma) but he did not offer him any respect and Lord Brahma became angry. Now that was considered an offence committed within the mind, he did not say anything wrong or do anything wrong but he failed to offer respect when he should have. So that was considered an offence committed within the mind. Then next he met Lord Shiva who was his brother, and Lord Shiva was very happy. He came forward to embrace him, and Bhrigu Muni said, “Don’t touch me, you are contaminated. You are always associating with ghosts, and hob gobbling, and you frequent crematoriums, don’t touch me.” So that was considered an offence committed with words. A more serious kind of offence. And last he went to Lord Vishnu, who was reclining. His lotus feet were being massaged by Lakshmi devi and he actually kicked Lord Vishnu on the chest, but Lord Vishnu is so sublime, he said, “Oh Bhrigu Muni, please forgive me for not welcoming you properly. Your lotus feet are so soft and my chest are so hard. I hope you did not hurt your lotus feet by kicking my chest.” So that offence committed with the body was the most severe and although it is the most serious type of offence, Lord Vishnu did not take offence at all but rather he turned the situation around and presented himself as the offender and thus the conclusion was that of the three Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu, Vishnu is the Supreme. But I told the story to illustrate the point that there are different kinds of offences. So if we come to this one- to blaspheme the Vedic literatures or literatures in pursuance of the Vedic version, so that blaspheming would be an offence committed with the words. But there is also a subtle offence which is not to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. We must read them and not to read them is a subtle offence.

PURPORT (continued)

The fourth offense is to vilify scriptures or Vedic knowledge.

The fifth offense is to define the holy name of the Lord in terms of one’s mundane calculation. The holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord Himself, and one should understand the holy name of the Lord to be nondifferent from Him.

The sixth offense is to interpret the holy name. The Lord is not imaginary, nor is His holy name. There are persons with a poor fund of knowledge who think the Lord to be an imagination of the worshiper and therefore think His holy name to be imaginary. Such a chanter of the name of the Lord cannot achieve the desired success in the matter of chanting the holy name.

The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the holy name. In the scriptures it is said that one can be liberated from the effects of all sinful actions simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who takes advantage of this transcendental method and continues to commit sins on the expectation of neutralizing the effects of sins by chanting the holy name of the Lord is the greatest offender at the feet of the holy name. Such an offender cannot purify himself by any recommended method of purification. In other words, one may be a sinful man before chanting the holy name of the Lord, but after taking shelter in the holy name of the Lord and becoming immune, one should strictly restrain oneself from committing sinful acts with a hope that his method of chanting the holy name will give him protection.

The eighth offense is to consider the holy name of the Lord and His chanting method to be equal to some material auspicious activity. There are various kinds of good works for material benefits, but the holy name and His chanting are not mere auspicious holy services. Undoubtedly the holy name is holy service, but He should never be utilized for such purposes. Since the holy name and the Lord are of one and the same identity, one should not try to bring the holy name into the service of mankind. 

COMMENT

So in 1973, in Bombay there was a conference organized by Srimati Lilavati Munshi, of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan about how the Bhagavad-gītā, or the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā can solve all the world’s problems. And before the session began, she invited the participants into her library and they discussed, I happened to be there also. And there was one man, I don’t recall his name, but he had a long white hair and long white beard and he told Srila Prabhupada that he was gathering people together and having them chant the holy names and telling them that by chanting the holy names, they could be cured of their physical ailments. So he said to Srila Prabhupada that, “I am gathering people together and you are gathering people together. I am getting them to chant the holy names, and you are getting them to chant the holy names, we should cooperate” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, the holy name is Krishna himself and we are meant to serve Krishna. We are not meant to try to bring Krishna into our service. And here Srila Prabhupada is making that same point.

PURPORT (continued)

Since the holy name and the Lord are of one and the same identity, one should not try to bring the holy name into the service of mankind. The idea is that the Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer. He is no one’s servant or order supplier. Similarly, since the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord, one should not try to utilize the holy name for one’s personal service.

The ninth offense is to instruct those who are not interested in chanting the holy name of the Lord about the transcendental nature of the holy name. If such instruction is imparted to an unwilling audience, the act is considered to be an offense at the feet of the holy name.

COMMENT

This is like preaching the glories of the holy name to the faithless. I had my own experience, not exactly in relation to the holy name, but preaching to the faithless. The details of where and when are not so important, but I was with my father and he was sort of rational, scientific type of person, and Srila Prabhupada had written very early in his career, a book called Easy Journey to Other Planets, which he cast in scientific language. So I thought well this book was presented in, with scientific terminology, so let me try to impart this knowledge to my father. And when I got to the point that by yoga you can travel to other planets, he was very skeptical, to say the least. And he looked at me with an expression like, I thought you were crazy but now you were removed all doubt. Now I know for sure that you are crazy. So that could be the effect of preaching to the faithless, that they become offensive and therefore to preach to the faithless is an offence, because you are leading them into offence.

PURPORT (continued)

The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord even after hearing of the transcendental nature of the holy name. The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as liberation from the conception of false egoism. False egoism is exhibited by thinking oneself to be the enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the world to be meant for the enjoyment of one’s self only. The whole materialistic world is moving under such false egoism of “I” and “mine,” but the factual effect of chanting the holy name is to become free from such misconceptions.

COMMENT

So this offence is rendered at The Nectar of Devotion as to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions in the matter. So to continue in the bodily concept of life, ‘I and Mine’ is totally opposed to the whole idea of chanting and is offensive to the holy name.

Now Srila Prabhupada instructed us, in our temple after maṅgala-ārati we should list the read of ten offences, before the devotees begin japa, because reading the list will help them to be remindful of the offenses and to avoid them. And almost invariably after a devotee will read the list of the ten offences from The Nectar of Devotion, a devotee will add, it is also offensive to be inattentive while chanting. Now the Sanskrit in the Padma-Purana, which describes the ten offenses, can be broken up in different ways. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Harināma-cintāmaṇi finds the word ‘pramāda’ which translates as intention, to be the ninth offence. And he says that if one is attentive while chanting, all the other offences will be destroyed and if one is inattentive while chanting, all the other offences can flourish. So it is most important to be attentive while chanting. And of course it is advantageous to chant early in the morning, during the Brāhma-muhūrta or chant in front of the deities, or chant in front of tulasi-devi, chant with other sincere chanters. All of that will help us in chanting and that will bring us to ultimate success. And whenever we have time, we should chant. I like to quote something that Srila Prabhupada said in a talk in Los Angeles, “If you have got time, chant Hare Krishna, Don’t speak nonsense. Chant Hare Krishna.” So we should do that, whenever we can, which could be almost all the time. So thank you for listening so patiently and attentively and now if any of you have any question or comments you can raise your hand. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you very much for wonderful elaboration of all the ten offences. So while reading one point came about nāma rupa guna līlā, so while chanting when mind goes off that time it is helpful to remember the deities, the rupa is it so but generally we hear that when we chant the rupa will automatically come. So is that recommended or how is that?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, the idea is to hear the holy name, that is the first necessity- to hear the holy name, and if one chants and hear nicely then one will think of the gunas- the qualities, the Rupa- the form, the līlā- the pastimes. And when I first joined the temple in Boston, it was the practice that we read the Kṛṣṇa book at night before we take rest and many years later within the last decade or whatever, I was facilitating a japa retreat at New Vrindavan. And I was reminiscing and also during that japa retreat I was also practicing that by reading the Kṛṣṇa book at night, or similar literature then in the morning, when one chants, one will think of Krishna’s pastimes, which one has read, which is quite nice. So yes, we should hear but at the same time, yes I mean looking at the deity, that is also good, but when we chant, in fact everything in bhakti is meant for Krishna’s pleasure. So when we are before the deity and when we are chanting, then we can think that we are doing this for the pleasure of the deity and that will enhance the quality or the value of the chanting. In fact, there is one devotee, during Srila Prabhupada’s time he kept a big photograph of Srila Prabhupada’s ear and when he chanted japa, he would chant to that photograph of Srila Prabhupada’s ear. Yes at the back.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, regarding pramāda specially I would like to know this (Unintelligible 00:58:04) that Bhaktivinoda Thakura mentions- what exactly is that (Unintelligible 00:58:10- 11) which Bhaktivinoda Thakura is speaking in attention (Unintelligible 00:58:17–19)

Giriraj Swami: Yes, can you explain what they are?

Devotee: What I have heard is jada is basically inertia or laziness that you show a lot of indifference to the holy name while chanting, and vikṣepa is the distraction because the thoughts are wandering here and there.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I don’t know exactly what the answer is but it is good to avoid the three different types of inattention and yes indifference, and distraction, and I am really not clear what the third one is unfortunately. But I could look it up. I can’t answer right now but thank you for bringing it up. Any other questions or comments.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. We have the offence of instructing faithless person about the glories of the holy name but at the same time or on the other hand we are the preaching movement so how to avoid to fall trap to this offence.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, in other places Srila Prabhupada has written that anyone can hear the holy name. We invite everyone to hear the holy name and to chant, but if one is, if we say faithless, and as Srila Prabhupada has explained in another context if someone is too materialistic they won’t be able to appreciate the transcendental glories of the holy name. But as you rightly said we are a preaching movement and so we want people to hear the holy names, we go out on the streets and chant. In an early letter, that Srila Prabhupada wrote to the authority, sometimes the authorities, like the police or whoever, they would interfere with the devotee street chanting and in this letter Srila Prabhupada said that, “The chanting will knock on the doors to the hearts of the people who hear it.” So yes, we want everyone to hear the holy name. One of my godbrothers from Bombay went to Russia, during the very strict communist rule and he was chanting Hare Krishna, and someone stopped him, “What is this? What are you singing?” And he said it is something from the Hindi movies. “Oh, okay, that is okay.” Yes, somehow or other we want them to hear the holy name and chant. Any other questions. Yes.

Devotee: Maharaja, you mentioned that there is no difference in the nomenclature of names, holy names. So why we actually promote this Hare Krishna mantra instead of any other?

Giriraj Swami: Well the Hare Krishna mantra is mentioned in the shastra and it is mentioned to specifically counteract the ill effects of kali-yuga, and in his preaching Srila Prabhupada would generally say if you chant any name of God, as mentioned in any bonafide scripture of the world, in any language but if you are not chanting anything else, then you can chant Hare Krishna. And although in this purport Srila Prabhupada says there is no difference, but Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Harināma-cintāmaṇi does explain that in a way there is a difference (Break in audio 01:04:20- 40). And the Hare Krishna mantra is very personal names of God and his energy, Radha, and in a way that is more powerful than chanting the name that describes the general qualities such as being all powerful, all merciful. But we just want to encourage people to chant, and we don’t want them to get too mental about what to chant and not to chant, or to discourage. So we say that they can chant any name and it is also true, they can and they will benefit.

Once Srila Prabhupada gave at a lecture at the Harvard Divinity School. This was pretty soon after I met Srila Prabhupada and began to associate with the devotee. Now the devotees did not own any motor vehicles and I had a Red Rambler Station wagon that my father gave me as a high school graduation present, so I ended up driving Srila Prabhupada to many of his programs. So he had the program at Harvard Divinity School and Harvard University, the students were very sharp and bright. So then afterwards Srila Prabhupada asked for questions, many hands shot up. And one person said that, “you say we get so much benefit from chanting Hare Krishna, but couldn’t you repeat anything and get the same result, like counting, one, two, three; one, two, three; one, two, three.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Of course, that is not possible. but if you want, you can try counting, and when you get tired of counting, you can try chanting.” So yes, somehow or the other, we want them to chant. Any other question or comments. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Maharaja, in your previous lecture, you were mentioning about progressive bhakti, we need to press like accelerator something, so what is that, what is that acceleration, is it continuous performance of bhakti or more what exactly is that?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, in the previous talk, the first sentence in the purport says, Srila Prabhupada says, uses the phrase ‘acceleration of devotional service.’ So what does it mean to accelerate. Of course, accelerate is to go faster, but how do we go faster. And we do so by eliminating activites that are not Krishna conscious and then we will accelerate our spiritual progress and there is also a question of, there is quantity and there is quality. There is also a question of improving the quality, like we are chanting, what is the quality by which we are chanting. So if we improve the quality of our chanting, that will also accelerate our spiritual progress. Good question. Are there any other questions? Yes, at the back.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Maharaja, sometime back one devotee was asking me that when we come to Krishna consciousness, devotee say you chant Hare Krishna, and you chant sixteen rounds, and then you follow the regulative principles. But he was saying that is that a mandate. Can a person go back to Godhead or complete his life without chanting. Like we hear about the nine limbs of bhakti, so even if he is attached to any other limb, is there a possibility that he can attain the Supreme Lord.

Giriraj Swami: Well to progress spiritually, you need a Guru, and our Founder Acharya is our foundational śikṣā-guru and our immediate gurus are his servants or his representatives and Srila Prabhupada prescribed minimum sixteen rounds. There is a verse- smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit. One should always remember Krishna and never forget Him, and in the purport to that verse, Srila Prabhupada nicely explains that we have many activities in the Krishna consciousness movement such as distributing books about Krishna, enrolling life members for Krishna. And they are all meant for remembering Krishna. But he said that of all the instructions of the spiritual master, the instruction to chant minimum sixteen rounds daily is most essential, for always remembering Krishna, and never forget Him. So that is our process and we are not on that level, that we can just do one of the nine processes of devotional service, naradi bhakti all the time. We need varieties of engagement, but whatever the other varieties are we chant minimum sixteen rounds.

Once when we were travelling in India with Srila Prabhupada, mainly he was addressing Indians, of course we were in India, but somehow a westerner met up with our group. There weren’t that many westerners in India then and he started to associate with the devotees. And at one stage he asked Srila Prabhupada , “If all service are absolute, why do we have to chant sixteen rounds?” And then he gave the example, suppose somebody come late at night and I still have rounds to chant, but I could make that person a life member, so wouldn’t it be just as good to make the person a life member as to finish one’s quota of rounds. And Srila Prabhupada, he replied basically that you have to chant sixteen rounds. And the boy was sort of arguing with Srila Prabhupada, why. And then Srila Prabhupada at one stage sat up very erect, became very stern and said, because the Supreme Personality of Godhead wants you to chant sixteen rounds. And he said, “If you want, you can eat and sleep all day long, but you must chant sixteen rounds.” And then Srila Prabhupada looked at all the other devotees and said , “This is special prerogative for him, not for everyone.” So he was just really emphasizing the sixteen rounds. Yes. Any other questions or comments.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Maharaja, regarding the eighth offence that you mentioned- no material activities on the strength of the holy name. And you also mentioned the example of Srila Prabhupada where he said that one person was saying I will cure you if you chant. So sometimes devotees when they are sick,

Giriraj Swami: I am sorry what did he.

Devotee: Eight offence that you mentioned Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: You mentioned the example of person who was saying I am asking them to chant because I will cure them., that part. So sometimes devotees get sick and they request others to chant extra rounds for the benefit of the devotee. So how do we understand that in this context, Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Well many prayers can be acceptable or not acceptable according to how they are phrased. I will give an example. We have a nice devotee in San Barbara, named Giridhari Priya dasa. And for a long time he was looking for a house to buy. He was living in a very small rented place and his parents in San Francisco area, many know them Dilip Patel. And so they were ready to pay for a place for him, but he was not finding any place. So I said, “Well, have you tried praying.” He said, “No, how can I pray for something material for myself.” I said, “Well it depends how you conceive of the prayer.” Yes, but it is something material for yourself, you can’t pray for that. But you can pray for a better facility for your deities, a facility where you can host people for programs and where you can accommodate devotees if they need some place. And in that way you are not praying for something material. So he started to pray in that way, and then very soon he got a house, found a house. So this asking devotee to pray for another devotee who is sick, I would also say it depends on how the prayer is presented. I think if it like a devotee is suffering, and we don’t want the devotee to suffer. It is maybe not the best but if it is like the devotee wants to do service but because of his illness, he is not able to do the service, please give him the facility to do the service. That would be a better prayer.

There is a nice verse in the Fourth Canto in which Prithu Maharaja prays, it is sort of like a all-purpose prayer, in which he says to the Lord that, “You know what is best for me, just like a father knows what best for the child so without my asking, you just do whatever is best for me. So I will leave it to you. So I think that is a good prayer. And even when Srila Prabhupada was sick, and devotees wanted to pray for him, he said that they could but he added a clause you could say to the prayer. ‘My dear Lord Krishna, if you so desire, please cure Srila Prabhupada. So that is okay, yes. Any other. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. I just a comment in relation to your response to the answer to Mataji. I was recalling in 2018, when in December 2018, I was at your ashram and we left everybody left the ashram, and you were on the way to the kirtan facility, I think it was Houston.

Giriraj Swami: Dallas.

Devotee: Dallas. Yes, and Maharaja you missed your flight or your flight was delayed. And you had to go somewhere to stay over the night, and you actually stayed at Giridhari Priya’s home and so in that sense, that prayer he was able to accommodate you. That was so amazing when we heard that, such great service that he was doing that time.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Any other questions or comments. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. Thank you for all the classes. My question is that Guru Maharaja, you mentioned Prabhupada went Tehran and also Prabhupada said that someone can chant in the name of Allah also. So in that case, Prabhupada also preached the non-Hindus, like other sampradāya. So when we are preaching in colleges and universities, there are some students, they are enthusiastic to know about their, some inspiration also to know about other religion. But it is not so easy to tell them about our religion to them and we also never try them to make Krishna consciousness actually. Because from Bangladesh it is very dangerous if we just do it, and they can do anything to us. So in that trigger how to, Prabhupada actually did and what is Prabhupada motive. How Prabhupada wants that to give everyone Krishna consciousness and how to motivate them in such way that we can be save.

Giriraj Swami: You are talking about preaching in Bangladesh. Are You are talking about preaching in Bangladesh.

Devotee: Bangladesh, also the (Unintelligible 01:223:25) community, Muhammadans.

Giriraj Swami: Oh, Muslim community. Well, we want to encourage everyone to chant the holy names, so if they chant Allah, Allah, that is fine. I used to preach in Pakistan when I came across the book The Ninety Nine Names of Allah, like we have The Thousand Names of Vishnu - Vishnu Sahasranamam. So they have The Ninety Nine Names of Allah, and some are similar to the names of the Krishna, not the language but the meaning. And that books said that the best thing that the loved ones of a dying person can do at the person’s time of death is to chant the names of Allah. I think that is a common conviction that chanting the holy name at the time of a person’s death or helping a person to chant the holy name at the time of death is the best thing that the person can do or the best thing that we can do for the person. And yes, it can be Allah, any of the ninety-nine names. There is one, habibi means friend. I thought that was sort of nice, but yes. Yes that is good if they chant the name of Allah. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Maharaja, generally like Mataji was also asking, when we see suffering in this world, in one’s own life or in devotees life, devotional circles, how should one approach that situation because generally it is very difficult to maintain steadiness in devotional faith, in the practices we have heard from our spiritual masters, because that creates struggle. So how should one deal with suffering like situation, seeing oneself or other?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean we have to practice bhakti-yoga in all circumstances and sometimes sufferings can be an impetus to increase or intensify one’s spiritual practices. So and also sometimes like when I was sick, I would try to understand what does Krishna want me to learn from this. But after a certain point, I would feel that I want to get back to more active service and then I would pray, I would try to learn from this what I think he wanted me to learn and this is what I have learned. And now if you think that I have learned enough from it, you can allow me to get back to more active service. So it is a personal, we have our personal relationship with Krishnan and yes the suffering can serve a purpose, but after the purpose is served then we could pray to be allowed to do more service again without that impediment. Does that address your concern?

Devotee: It does, but how do we help those who are for devotees, for those who are practicing but if we see suffering for those who are, maybe not having faith in bhakti or those aspects and you are saying as discussed in the class, we should not use Hare Krishna mantra to get rid of material suffering. So in that case how can we help them?

Giriraj Swami: Are you talking about non-devotees or devotees?

Devotee: So for devotees the answer you gave is making sense and we can apply, how can we also apply in the situation where they don’t have faith in bhakti or non-devotees, not having faith in bhakti.

Giriraj Swami: They are not devotees, and they are suffering and you want to alleviate their suffering. Why exactly do you want to relieve their suffering?

Devotee: Because of some relationship we have, it could be some physical relationship, maybe they are our whatever parents, or brothers, or friends, etc.

Giriraj Swami: Well I go back to Prithu Maharaja’s prayers that “Lord, you know what is best for everyone, you know what is best for my parents, or my relatives who is suffering, so please do whatever is best for them.”

Any other questions or comments. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, relevant to the same question as he was saying that suffering to the relative or something like that, so what happens sometimes the suffering attack them from all around, surrounded by the suffering and earlier they are not the devotees, we can’t say they are the devotees but they have some belief. They are doing some chanting, some hari-nāma, some listening to the kirtan and so on. But after the suffering attack them, they closed down because the mind is always in meditating on the sufferings, how can they come out of the sufferings. So in such a situation how can we give them relief, or how can we console them?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean you say when they are suffering, they are just thinking of how to get out of their suffering. But what about how to take more shelter of Krishna in their suffering.

Devotee: Maharaja, in this condition actually they are into the problems, into the sufferings. They are deep into their sufferings.

Giriraj Swami: Sorry.

Devotee: Deep into their sufferings. So they are not able to come out of their sufferings. So it is very difficult to take them to hari-nāma, or shelter to the Krishna. It is getting difficult at the time.

Giriraj Swami: So you can pray to the Lord to do whatever is best for them. What more can we do? Do you want to pray to the Lord to relieve them of their sufferings?

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Yes actually I, we want to get relief of the suffering, at the same time we can get shelter of Krishna and become a good devotee also. So both thing, I think if they get out of the suffering, so then they can surrender to Krishna. Maybe I am wrong.

Giriraj Swami: Sorry to say, when they are suffering, they can take shelter of Krishna or not, and when they are free from the suffering, they can take shelter of Krishna or not. But I am sure by your good association they will become inclined to Krishna consciousness, one way or the other. And you can pray for them to become Krishna conscious. I am sure you do.

Any other questions or comments. All right, so now as usual I have books here on display and if anyone wants to take a book, I will sign it and yes, thank you for joining and listening so patiently and attentively.