R eading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 7. Chapter 2, Hiranyakashipu, the king of the demons, verse-14:
SB:7.2.14
TEXT 14
pura-grāma-vrajodyāna-
kṣetrārāmāśramākarān
kheṭa-kharvaṭa-ghoṣāṁś ca
dadahuḥ pattanāni ca
TRANSLATION
The demons set fire to the cities, villages, pasturing grounds, Cowpens, gardens, agricultural fields and natural forests. They burned the hermitages of the saintly persons, the important mines that produced valuable metals, the residential quarters of the agriculturalists, the mountain villages, and the villages of the cow protectors, the cowherd men. They also burned the government capitals.
PURPORT
The word udyāna refers to places where trees are especially grown to produce fruits and flowers, which are most important for human civilization. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.26):
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” Fruits and flowers are very much pleasing to the Lord. If one wants to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he can simply offer fruits and flowers, and the Lord will be pleased to accept them. Our only duty is to please the Supreme Godhead (saṁsiddhir hari–toṣaṇam [SB 1.2.13]). Whatever we do and whatever our occupation, our main purpose should be to please the Supreme Lord. All the paraphernalia mentioned in this verse is especially meant for the satisfaction of the Lord, not the satisfaction of one’s senses. The government—indeed, the entire society—should be structured in such a way that everyone can be trained to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But unfortunately, especially in this age, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum: [SB 7.5.31] people do not know that the highest goal of human life is to please Lord Viṣṇu. On the contrary, like demons, they simply plan to kill Viṣṇu and be happy by sense gratification.
LECTURE:
So here we are reading that under the instruction of Hiranyakashipu, his demoniac associates went to earth to create chaos and destruction as goal. They are burning everything, villages, capitals, government heads etc. So the question should be asked here is why why would anybody want to do these things? Well at the bottom and underneath that, they are thinking that if they can destroy Vishnu, if they can destroy the devas, if they can destroy the pilgrimage sites, if they can destroy the process of yajna, disrupt the whole systems that are there. They want to disrupt the whole system, disrupt the varnashram, disrupt the devas and thus they would be able to take charge of what’s going on and they can exploit the world and enjoy it for their own satisfaction. So first destroy everything and then we can use it for our own selfish purposes. In other words as often it’s done but not such dramatic ways, they simply trying to increase their own separate enjoyment of the world. That’s their goal and they are rather powerful demons and so they are doing in a rather powerful expressive ways but but the underlying principle is the demonic mentality.
So Prabhupada explains here, in so many different purports, this is a difference between a demoniac mentality and a devotional one. The devotee of the Lord is the one who is gradually walking awakened in our understanding of who we are and what our actual identity is. We are trying to use everything for the Lord, the devotionally inclined person uses everything for the Lord and the demoniacally inclined person uses everything for their self. Overcome by the lowermost of nature, ignorance, of course, lots of passion thrown in and it’s described in the Shastra actually unknowingly they are acting against themselves and acting against others. They are thinking. Actually I’m going to control everything and enjoy it like crazy, but actually they are only harming themselves and only harming others.
What’s particularly interesting in this series of verses and key verses is that Hiranyakashipu who we understand is the greatest of the demoniac kings and the greatest example of the demoniac mentality. A few verses forward this, he is going to recite some wonderful philosophy to his mother, sister-in-law and nephews all who are lamenting over the death of Hiranyaksha. So let’s just listen to what he says just couple of verses here text 20, 21, 22. “My dear mother, the restaurant or place for drinking cold water, many travellers are brought together and after drinking water they continue with their respective destination. Similarly, living entities joined together in a family and later as a result to their own actions they are let apart to their destinations. This is Hiranyakashipu. The spirit soul, the living entity has no death, for he is eternal, being free from material contamination, he can go anywhere in the material or spiritual worlds. He is fully aware and completely different from the material body. But because of being misled by the misuse of his slight independence, he is obliged to accept subtle and gross bodies created by the material energy, and thus to be subjected to the so called material happiness and distress. Therefore no one shouldn’t lament for the passing of the spirits soul from the body. So that’s Hiranyakashipu. Rather strange, and private comments in the purport to that verse is that, the demons also have knowledge. Not necessarily completely ignorant but they misuse their knowledge.
We also know that Hiranyakashipu of course he was great devotee. Jay and Vijay were unfortunately forced to come into this world and act as demons. So the lines are little blurred. Demoniac, devotional, good guys, bad guys, use the world offer the world, it is not that you draw a line in the sand and you can make this demarcation. It is not clear, so why is it like that? We tend to see thing like that, I’m a devotee and that’s a demon or sometimes it’s even more direct I’m a devotee and you are a demon. Sometimes we think like that but the lines are blurred why? Ultimately because the real fact is, what was the real fact? Everybody is a devotee. Every living entity is a devotee of Krishna, but in this world everyone is forgotten about Krishna.
“Mamai vamsa Jiva loke Jiva bhuta sanatana
Manasastrani indriayani prakriti stani karshati”
They are all parts and parcels of Krishna. But we are forgetful, we are covered over by ignorance to one degree or the other. Therefore the Lord says in Bhagavad Gita,
“Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata”
He comes again and again, again and again and again and again, and again and again, to teach as much as people can possibly understand at that particular time, how to reawaken their knowledge of Krishna. So it is not so much demoniac and devotional. It is the spectrum really demoniac and barely awake in devotion and everything in between is a spectrum, there is a spectrum.
Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport to these verses in the fourth chapter about Krishna coming again and again. That the mission, mission of these, the Lords mission is the same and the mission of his different representatives and the mission of different spiritual teachers, it’s is all same. It is all for gradually bringing people back to God consciousness and therefore we see that there is so many different religious traditions in the world. And as devotees, Prabhupada instructs we should appreciate any process that bringing people gradually to a spiritual awakening. Again we tend to see we are good and they are bad, we are better etc.
I have one story and wanted to share. I have a friend, he is a professor who is a Muslim man and he is older. He may be in his seventies. He went and heard Prabhupada speak at Harvard University, whenever Prabhupada was there in early 69 or 70’s something like that in the early days, he just happened to walking through the hall of the divinity college and he saw someone in saffron. Being from India he knew saffron was not something you ordinarily see in the Harvard campus. So, he went to hear Prabhupada and two things he said came out which convinced is that there is great spiritual truth in every tradition. Because he was Muslim and he came and heard this Vaishnava saint speak, he was so impressed. So I knew this story for years and recently I was with him again. I asked I said, tell me that story again about your time with Prabhupada. So he told me the story again. At the end he said, you know something funny?, he said I’m a muslim he said whenever I’m in trouble and whenever there is a problem I think of him. He said I’m a muslim and you think I would think of something in Islam, but I don’t, I think of him. He started to cry and then it went like that, I can’t talk about any more.
So he is not over particular tradition, he doesn’t read our scripture, he appreciates our scripture. This particular man is vegetarian you know he talked to Hare Krishna, very wise person. But he is a Muslim. But he is appreciating the devotee, the Lord, the pure devotee of the Lord, he is appreciating the Krishna Conscious practice.
So we are very fortunate, we are sitting here in Mayapur with the lotus feet of Panchatattva & Shri Radha Madhava, we are so fortunate to have this opportunity to take shelter at the movement of Lord Chaitanya and to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada. We know Prabhupada describes again and again, that Krishna Consciousness is the best process we know that it is the best process. But within the word best what else is there? By definition?, if there is best what does it mean? There is others that also are good. This is the best among many, so when we say best we are very very fortunate to have this.
I was listening to a lecture just recently, Srila Prabhupada, he said this many many times is that it doesn’t really matter what religious system you are following. It doesn’t matter, Christian, Hindu, Muslim he said the question is are you awakening the love of God? That is the question, that’s what really matters, that’s what really matters. So we sit here as humble members and servants of ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada and the Vaishnavas. It is our 50th anniversary as society, so we should be asking ourselves. Just like we just finished a leadership and management course, one of the principles is accountability, to be measuring things. Prabhupada also pushed us that we should be measuring things. So that we should ask ourselves individually and collectively, am I developing the love of God? How am I doing? It’s not enough that we simply think I’m wearing thilak, you know I have the classic 2 paisa thread. I have those best times passing whatever hair is left there is little shikha still there? That’s not actually the test. Those are nice things the external things are good, it’s a culture that helps us cultivate something.
Culture means you are cultivating something, just like you cultivate crops, we are cultivating God consciousness, cultivating the love of God. We have to be asking ourselves, Am I actually developing, awakening love of God? Along with that, prior to that, we have to ask ourselves, Who am I?, and are we losing our sense of pride and our sense of false ego? What separates the demons here from devotees?
Hiranyakashipu is full of spiritual knowledge and nobody’s quoting me in the Bhagavatam, that Anuttama said some greatest philosophical truth. But Hiranyakashipu spoke some great spiritual truth and Prabhupada comments in the purport, this is the deep spiritual knowledge. So he had that knowledge but he misused it. He didn’t really understand it, because of his pride, because of his false sense of who he was.
Just like we are here in Mayapur and we are building here, by Krishna’s grace. We are building this beautiful temple, glorious temple and we have to ask ourselves what’s our mentality towards the temple. Just like we have to ask ourselves, what’s our mentality towards our life, and towards our time, and towards our very being? What’s the mentality towards others? So if we think it’s a beautiful temple, but we should ask who is it for? We should ask ourselves who is it for? Who do I think it is for? We should ask ourselves, who gets the credit? Who gets the credit? Because if we think, I am building this temple or I am the donor, I have 1 paisa or I gave 1 dollar, or I gave whatever, a Radharani coin or I don’t know the other coins. It is beyond my capacity so I didn’t look so close. Radharani coin, Krishna coin, Chaitanya coin or whatever it is, if I give that then actually it’s an illusion. It is a bit of demoniac mentality.
It is the spectrum so we have to be careful because we know actually, Krishna is the doer and if I gave some money, whose money was it? How did I get it? May be my father or mother gave it to me. So who determined my father and my mother? Did I arrange that? I can’t take credit for that. May be I got good grades and got a good job. So who gave me the brain? Did I go to the store, pick out the best brain and made the best decision and therefore I am reaping the rewards of my good decision? No, May be some karma in the past. Who allowed those laws to work? Who allowed ultimately gave him that opportunity? Krishna. So if we are thinking, that for example, this temple is for us look what we have, look what we are doing.
Just say someone is here to talk about this biggest temple in the world, well! How many worlds are there? Even Lord Brahma was humble he created the whole universe. So may be we create one temple, of course it is not finished and ultimately Krishna, He can let it finish if He likes or not let us finish. The worlds full of unfinished buildings and empty buildings and buildings that were once great but then died.
The world is full of and our movement been full of fair share of great devotees who once rose but then spiritually died. It’s a battle, it’s a battle with maya and it is mostly the battle with ourselves. So if we are thinking that this temple is for us, and look what we have done and we are so good, here we are, out in the rice fields of Mayapur and if you really really know where you are going and if you really really really can’t tolerate the taxi driver, you find your way here. We build the temple, it’s a glorious temple there is no doubt. It’s an effort to fulfil the mission of great acharyas. But the point is if we start thinking that it’s for us, and not understanding who it is really for, then we are sliding into the materialistic or according to this analysis here demoniac mentality. Certainly it’s for Panchattava, certainly it’s for Radha Madhava, but even more than that who is that for, it’s for people.
You know the wonderful story Prabhupada was sitting in Bhajan kutir near the gate. He said this place is in the mode of goodness, its perfect place for Krishna Consciousness. Why we building just even the first building the lotus building, a little tiny building, that’s in the mode of passion. Why are we building it, because who will come to this hut? So why did he build the lotus building for the people, why we built in the temple for the people? The mass of people, which people? Not so much for us, it is really for the forgetful people. For who did Lord Chaitanya come for, who did Prabhupada come for? Did they come to save the brahmins? Was that their mission, save the Brahmins? No, that wasn’t a mission, the mission was to save the most fallen. If we are their servants we have to think who are we trying to save? To who our life is supposed to be dedicated for? So this temple, this temple, that temple, Mayapur itself, we should not be thinking, it’s not just like Hiranyakashipu is thinking, the world is for me, it’s all for me. I have a little bit of knowledge to convince it’s all for me. My people is special, my tribe is special, my race is special, my colour is special my position is special but if we are actually understanding that we are servants, beginning to awaken the love of God, the first principle is that we are servants, servants of this place. Our job is to facilitate others.
Srila Prabhupada structured the society in such a way, systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large, that’s our mission to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to the society at large. So we are beginning to awaken our love of God, beginning to awaken love for Srila Prabhupada, beginning to love this mission, beginning to love our gurus. Then we should see how much are we excited to bring others to the Lord, how much we are thinking about how can we make this place heaven? How can Mayapur be heaven on earth? They say Juhu is heaven on earth, right? So how can it be heaven on earth, not for us but for the others. Heaven on earth is not supposed to be for us but we are supposed to be in service of others who can come here and become Krishna Conscious. Of course we also come here.
Srila Prabhupada says the servant enjoys like in the same level as king. But as soon as the servant starts thinking, I’m enjoying on the level of the king then he is in trouble. So it is our 50th anniversary so many people are coming here, so many more people will be coming here to see the temple, to see this beautiful place, Mayapur.
It is described even in this verse, we read that people they are going to come and see even how do we treat the trees here. It says the word “Ujana” refers to the place where trees are specially grown to produce fruits and flowers which are most important for human civilization. So we think this place for us but not for the trees, then it is that the demoniac mentality, that we think this place is for us, but it’s not for the local people, then that’s a demoniac mentality. If we think this place is for us, however we define that, but it is not for the foreign people that is a demoniac mentality. If we think this place is for us for not for the high class people, they are too puffed up, then that’s the demoniac mentality. If we think this place for us but not for the low class people, look at these people they are so poor etc. like that then it’s a demoniac mentality. If we think I’m the servant of Sri Panchattava, Sri Radha Madhava and look at all of these devotees, some of them leaving their “beedies”, just outside the gate and what else they might be carrying in their hearts and in their minds. Krishna doesn’t see like that, Krishna doesn’t see this one is a demon, this one is a devotee. Where does it say in the sastra that is the way the deities see? He sees everyone who is coming as his devotee He is accepting their service. So not just here but everywhere around the world.
An important message for us it’s our 50th anniversary week, we got a foothold, we have a foothold in the world we have made some progress. We have got a few temples level of six hundred and fifty temples and astonishing five hundred and sixteen million books that’s amazing so amazing number of books, but how many people in the world? 8 billion, 7 billion? So we have one out of 14 have gotten a book. It is a good start but it is time to quit? One out of the fourteen should we say OK it’s all done? How many languages now? 80, 90 languages? 80 or 90 languages and they estimate who knows there could be some more hidden in some forest or some place. But something like six thousand languages, ok so 80 or 90 it’s a good start but five thousand nine hundred and ten to go? So we start thinking Oh! 90 languages, Oh over 500 million books, oh! Six hundred temples then we are forgetting what our position is, because we start thinking we are the enjoyers of our success and we don’t want to do that because we can’t really help people. So when people visit temples, when people visit they should genuinely feel and it’s not a cheap thing. We have to actually develop this mentality.
Mukunda Maharaj writes when he first met Srila Prabhupada, I think it’s told in Lilamrita too. When he first met Prabhupada, he was amazed how he felt how Prabhupada really wanted to give him some time. He actually cared for him. He felt that it is may be for the first time in his life somebody actually cared and wanted to spend their time with him. Because of that, Srila Prabhupada’s mood, Krishna Consciousness is spread all over the world.
We have to measure ourselves, when we read these verses about demons set fire to the villages. You know it’s so easy to think, “Ya, those bad demons, good thing l’m not one of them”. But we should think where have I set fire, how many fires have I set for the last 24 hours? How many people I have discouraged in last 24 hours, how many people I could have encouraged and I didn’t encourage in the last 24 hours. How many seeds of ill-will little small tones I have spoken have set fire in people’s hearts? Where are we on the spectrum? Where did I allow myself to be on the spectrum, yesterday? Am I determined to be more on the devotional side today? Because we know we are conditioned souls we are affected by the things in this world. But people are looking to us and the Lord is looking to us and our Guru parampara is looking to us to carry the light, carry the banner.
It is the 50th anniversary. People are coming and they want to see do you care about me? You say your movement is all about God but if you love God then what do you think about me? You know Christians don’t have a corner on compassion. They are really good at promoting it and they understand that quality of God. They have some deep realization about the quality of God, how much have we understood that? How much we demonstrating that to people? How is it possible for us to do so? How can we actually care for people? Well, because we know we have this knowledge that every living being is a part and parcel of Krishna and Krishna wants him back is such a beautiful understanding of God.
You know, He is so kind. You know the Lord is standing on the deity form, I know He is kind. Because I was a pujari for a short period of time. I poked him more pins that you can’t count. He did stayed there the next day, He didn’t leave. So many offenses we all commit and still He stays there tolerates us. We know he is so kind, He wants people back.
The way we please Krishna is to help others awaken their love for Him and give others an opportunity to serve Him and to serve them in a humble mood. We think that it’s not my land, we may have a house here, we may have an apartment complex here, we may have a hut, and it’s not mine. Especially in the mind, it’s not mine it belongs to Krishna. It belongs to the Lord.
We should think how can I share it? I have been given this mercy to come here how can I share what I have? Just as we know so many book distributors come here and book distributors are so fortunate because day and night they are thinking how I can share with more devotees, with people who have forgotten Krishna. But all of us should think like that. How can I share what I have with the tourist with the pilgrims with the ladies, Brahmachari, Sanyasi, Grahasta Prabhus. How can I share it with the ladies, how can I move out of the way? Lord Chaitanya stood in one place an old woman stood on His shoulders to see the deity. Was that just some insignificant pastime like Krishna’s pastime don’t mean anything? Everything else is important but that one doesn’t count. God himself as a sanyasi allowed a woman to step on His shoulders but we are going to be so pakka in our separation? You know ladies, but no ,they are mothers what do we do to facilitate spiritual advancement for our mothers? What do we do to make sure every tourist here feels affection feels appreciated these are practical things, we can say I love God. But where is the practical manifestation.
We love God, then we have to show it in our dealings with others especially people that are just beginning their path, we should think if we are beginning to awaken the love of God sometimes I think, You have got few years before this temple opens and when this temple opens the world is going to look they are going to give us about 30 seconds and within 30 seconds, may be one front-page story in the newspaper, one or two TV show. I have said this before they are going to walk across the street and they are going to ask the first rickshaw wallah they meet, “Is your life better because of that temple?”. If he says No, that’s the story, as your humble servant in communications. He is going to talk to workers and he is going to say are you better off than the guy across the street working for somebody who sells whatever popcorn or liquor. May be there is probably liquor shop some place, that the guy that owns a liquor shop treating his workers better than the Hare Krishna temple. What they say, I love God but I don’t care for His parts and parcel. I love god, and I love all the people who look like me. If you have a hair like this then I love you, different hairstyle, No Thank You. If you wear a tilak like this then it is very good, if you wear tilak like that I don’t. You wear hair up here then you are a good guy if you wear hair over here I don’t know. That’s because Hiranyakashipu, even he is teaching against that.
So we have some challenges, we have fantastic opportunity but part of the problem if you could take shelter of the pure devotee of the Lord you are supposed to become a pure devotee of the Lord. You know if you take shelter of a second class volley ball coach, if you learned to play volley ball second class grade, great, you did good. But if we take shelter of the pure devotee of the Lord, we are supposed to become pure devotees of the Lord. Not just become, but we are supposed to pass it on to others and to do so it’s Krishna Conscious to see Krishna in everything. So if we fail to do so, if we fail to see Krishna in everything, if we fail to see ourselves as servants, if we fail to see our duty to simply help others come to Krishna where there is service here? We are not the owners of the property. With the service we are meant to bring others, so many people are coming to the Lord, let me help them come. If we failed to do that and if we don’t try that, we risk being little Hiranyakashipus.
Hiranyakashipu had spiritual knowledge but he misused it. If we have spiritual knowledge and if we misuse it, you know where to lie on the spectrum. so we have to be careful. We, especially me, have to be careful. We have knowledge, we may have knowledge but we may have demoniac heart. That’s the challenge. We won’t necessarily be pleasing Srila Prabhupada. We may think that we are devotees, but like we are reading here, it’s a little blurred, then our progress will be slowed. How to we correct that is quite simple. We have to remember that we are servants and as we know here we are the at the feet of Lord Chaitanaya who is so kind he came in the mood of a servant to show the dumb people of this ag. How lucky we are to be servants? God Himself comes and do what he is telling us to do and we don’t want to do it. He comes and relishes the highest spiritual ecstasy in that mood. He comes to the lowest people and says, No you follow my footsteps. Prabhupada says to become a servant, go to the top of the class. So being servants and appreciating whatever we do have is a gift of Krishna it’s not mine, it’s a gift of Krishna. Know the Sun comes up as it’s a gift of Krishna. The fresh air Prabhupada mentions in some of these verses the fresh air is a gift of Krishna. Vaishnava sanga is the gift of Krishna.The fact is that some pilgrim comes and somehow wanders to the front with their little paisa, piece of cloth, puts it in the box, that’s the gift to us from Krishna. How this woman or this man you know walked 10 kilometres, 20 kilometres, some of these people walked and travelled three days just to come and put their paisa in the box, that’s a gift from Krishna to show me the mood I should try to be developing.
So remember we have service to see that everything is a gift and do everything we possibly can. We are conditioned and it’s difficult but try to share whatever we have. That’s Prabhupada’s mood, he struggled and he suffered, he suffered two heart attack, he suffered the cold, he suffered on the bowery. He took so much austerity just to try to help us, each other and every one of us and he said if you love me, we will try to repay our debt to him to preach like he has done to us in a humble mood.
Just please somehow attract others to Krishna, try to demonstrate our service to others and try to give everyone an opportunity to come and take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya, here or in Moscow or in Los Angeles or wherever we are. If we do that then we are fulfilling this definition of Vaishnava. Then 50th anniversary of ISKCON is not just the celebration of what’s been done, but will be a celebration of wonderful great things to come in our generation and many many generations to come.
So thank you very much for your kind attention, I’ll end there. Srila Prabhupada Ki Jay!
Anuttama Prabhu: So can I take a question or two or not? Its 8:45, did it finish Pakka? Questions are Ok? Ok, the book minister, I’m the communication minster. In the hierarchy of ministers I am at the feet of the book distribution ministry. So I will take his order any questions or comments. Apurva prabhu, I know there is no Mic so I just repeat it.
Devotee: I’m remembering the pastime of Srila Prabhupada going on a morning walk in Mayapur one devotee told me. He wasn’t on the walk, he heard it later Prabhupada was mentioning somehow the conversation came up that Prabhupada has done so much. Prabhupada didn’t boast it but said yes, I have done this, I have done ten times more than my spiritual master, so you should do 10, 20 times more than me. Can you please unpack that for us?
Anuttama Prabhu: Well, so many people here could comment on that. I’ll just try to say that, Prabhupada said that many times he said that the desire of a spiritual master is to see the devotees, not just chanting and dancing but preaching, so that’s one. He also said that by the mercy of the spiritual master one can actually surpasses. He was explaining the spiritual master in this sense, that by His grace he can use us as an instrument. Again we are not the doer but he can use you as an instrument and he can achieve more things through us than to seem like he achieved. Of course none of us are ever going to surpass Prabhupada, that’s not possible but it’s the order of the spiritual master that we shouldn’t be too humble and think Oh what can I do. You know it’s a nice expression they say, “we should act as if everything dependent upon us and we should pray and meditate knowing that everything depends upon Krishna” that we give our full endeavour but maintain that humility and we see like that beautiful prayer, Markandeya Bhagavad Darshan, Prabhupada wrote to him in Boston Harbour it was such a beautiful prayer. Sirla Prabhupada is just so much struggling just on the cusp of you know, maybe been assuring came back on the ship but he’s about to disembark for good. He was just in the mood of utter helplessness, “I don’t know why you brought me here the people are covered by the modes of ignorance and passion but now if you want you can make my words understandable”, he says it again and again and again. “Now if you want you can make me your instrument”, so we should pray the same way, Thank you for the nice remembrance of Srila Prabhupada.
Anuttama Prabhu: Any questions from the ladies? You are little harder to hear can you come closer
Devotee: What’s the main thing Prabhupada wants to show our love to him after he leaves?
Anuttama Prabhu: First we know he emphasized cooperation we know that, why is that so important. We are from everywhere around the world. You know my friend, Baladev Prabhu is from Argentina, Srivas prabhu from West Africa, devotees here from Punjabi Bagh, Florida, New Vrindavan. We have a devotee here, by Krishna’s empowerment carved the deity of Nrsimha dev, he is sitting there. So what a fit that is. Devotees give us so many gifts. So the most important thing is to we have to cooperate the problem is really hard to cooperate, because people just don’t understand that “usually you are right”. Everybody understood “I was right It will be easy to cooperate and unfortunately they are in ignorance and they don’t understand how right I usually am”, obviously I’m making a point (smiling). That the materialistic mentality. So you know cooperate is not hard. Rasa reminded us a beautiful story I think it was in Atlanta. Prabhupada had an important meeting with the book distributors, and we all know how important book distribution is and when the book distributors asked Prabhupada, Prabhupada what is the most important way to please you? What is the most important service? I think ,they were you know, leading a kind of question a little bit and response was when you love Krishna that pleases me the most. But we can’t love Krishna, if we don’t love his parts and parcels. It doesn’t work. But if we want to love Him we have to try to love His parts and parcels. If we are trying to love Him we have to love His parts and parcels. You can’t do that if you don’t love him.
Anuttama Prabhu: There is one comment here, Prabhu where are you from? Nigeria? You know 50 nice devotees that came from Nigeria? You are 51, nice to have you here.
Devotee: I want to first of all say thank you to you. It’s a big introspective class you gave, it was very meticulous in that you raised questions several philosophical questions especially for example the question you raised about the rickshaw wallah and also different principles. We know that if we please Krishna and then everyone become please and also social order. There are laws are karma are in everything we do and we cannot please everyone and if Krishna is pleased everyone become pleased?
Anuttama Prabhu: So therefore I can’t please everybody, so if I please Krishna don’t worry about anybody else we can understand that?
But Krishna says that one who is in knowledge sees with equal vision Brahmana, elephant, cow, dog and dog eater. Those from West think dog eater it means abominable. When you see the dogs here, it’s really abominable, I mean when I get close to one of those lovely creatures, what to speak of eating one right? Dog eater is pretty low. One in knowledge see that person and Brahmana as equal. What is meant by this? Do we treat everybody equal? In one sense yes and in one sense no. Srila Prabhupada says, even a pure devotee doesn’t embrace a tiger, he thinks she is the tiger, but still he is merciful. If you go to the zoo you can still chant Hare Krishna mantra but you don’t jump in the tiger cage. So he sees everyone equal, gives everyone mercy and compassion. So yes, if we love Krishna, we are automatically pleasing everyone, that refers to the people you never run into. What about everybody else you have an exchange with. You are proper brahmachari with tilak, Shika so you walk to the airport and you know buy a bottle of water and you replied to that lady behind the counter and she thinks who is this person, Such a gentlemen, who are you anyway? Oh I’m a Hare Krishna, She says, I should learn more about you people. Or you buy your water and you are thinking you are in Samadhi, how you are going to offer to Krishna so you are rude to that lady, now have you pleased Krishna? You can’t please everybody at the back bottling the water but you can do little service to the lady who is selling you water. There was a class years ago called “Sankirtan Yoga” that book distributors, Sankirtan devotees, see I’m running from Krishna to Krishna to Krishna, that he is in your heart to your heart, to your heart, that everybody we meet. So you are right, we can’t please everybody, so we should try to please Krishna. Part of pleasing Krishna is to give everyone a chance to do service. It doesn’t mean that people who are already chanting 16 rounds, or even become a vegetarian, even come to the temple, why not everyone. Everyone you meet everywhere you, every rickshaw wallah you meet. I don’t know any Bengali but how are you are you having a nice days, how’s your kids? You ever bring them to the temple? Can I give you some prasadam? Why not? Are we too good to give a rickshaw wallah prasadam? To the bus driver say, thank you. “I’m a Big big Brahmin, you are lucky to have served me to driving this bus, you are fortunate, now your life is like this perfect and purified, you served the Vaishnava,” if we think like that he didn’t get much credit as I’m not much of a Vaishnava, and instead we should say, Thank you sir for helping me I’m going to work, I’m going to pick up my children go to temple. I’m so grateful you helped me. If we think like that he’s going to think, well, what kind of people are these? I’ve been driving bus for 30 years and nobody appreciated what I’m doing. Well, I guess they are all thinking about their sense gratification, you just an object I need to drive into work so I can make money for me, the world’s all about me. You are one more object. Devotees think you know everything is for Krishna you helped me for Krishna , thank you for this ride. Ok?. I’ll stop here thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! Sri Sri Panchattava Ki Jay Sri Sri Radha Madhava ki Jay.
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