19800606 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.2.39

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on June 6th 1980. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, canto 7, chapter 2, text 39.

ya icchayeśaḥ sṛjatīdam avyayo
ya eva rakṣaty avalumpate ca yaḥ
tasyābalāḥ krīḍanam āhur īśituś
carācaraṁ nigraha-saṅgrahe prabhuḥ

Translation: The boy addressed the women: O weak women! Only by the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never diminished, is the entire world created, maintained and again annihilated. This is the verdict of the Vedic knowledge. This material creation, consisting of the moving and nonmoving, is exactly like His plaything. Being the Supreme Lord, He is completely competent to destroy and protect.

Purport (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): In this regard the queens might argue, “If our husband was protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead when in the womb, why has he not been given protection now?” To this question the answer is, ya icchayeśaḥ sṛjatīdam avyayo ya eva rakṣaty avalumpate ca yaḥ. One cannot argue with the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is always free, and therefore He can protect and can also annihilate. He is not our order carrier; whatever He likes He will do. Therefore He is the Supreme Lord. The Lord does not create this material world at anyone’s request, and therefore He can annihilate everything merely by His will. That is His supremacy. If one argues, “Why does He act in this way?” the answer is that He can do so because He is supreme. No one can question His activities. If one argues, “What is the purpose of this sinful creation and annihilation?” the answer is that to prove His omnipotence He can do anything, and no one can question Him. If He were answerable to us concerning why He does something and why He does not, His supremacy would be curtailed.

Why doesn't Kṛṣṇa have to answer to anyone? Who is the boy that is speaking here? Anyone know?

Devotee : Yamarāja.

Yamarāja, yes.

There is a Bengali proverb which says that, 'If Kṛṣṇa protects one, if the Supreme Lord protects one, then who can hurt him? And if Kṛṣṇa kills someone, then who can protect him?' 'Rakhe Kṛṣṇa māre ke? Māre Kṛṣṇa rakhe ke?' For instance, some people… they are in their homes, with their big doors and their big guards, and so many protection; and yet they die. Or they are raided by dacoits and everything is stolen away. Or another person, he may be carrying lakhs of rupees in his briefcase and walking down the street, and no one will bother. Because ultimately everything, you see, is in the hands of Kṛṣṇa. Icchā eva… icchānurūpa… This material nature creates, annihilates, maintains - simply on the will, on the wish of Kṛṣṇa.

Just like in our body, we desire that, "Let me move my hand," my hand moves. If we build a castle out of sand, we can also knock it down; such things are our prerogatives. So all the living entities are the parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa: mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (Bg. 15.7) Some of them are cooperating and some of them are not co-operating. So, out of His own will Kṛṣṇa decided, "Now, let me create the material world for those uncooperative parts and parcels who I’ve given independence; and they can have an opportunity to satisfy their independent ideas, and to eventually come back to Me.” But he doesn’t compromise His supremacy, you see. That is the difference. Kṛṣṇa is Supreme; therefore, He can do whatever He likes, and that is considered to be all-good. His action is the standard. On the other hand, the impersonalist philosophers, they are thinking that, “I am God.” Yet, at every moment, they are put under so many miserable conditions of this material world. What kind of God is that? Here we see that in no way can Kṛṣṇa be compromised.

Balarāma, He appeared in the meeting when Romaharṣaṇa was sitting on his big vyasāsana. And there were so many thousands of students, great sages, listening to Romaharṣaṇa, preparing to hear the message of Bhāgavata. Everyone stood up to greet Balarāma. But Romaharṣaṇa was probably thinking " I am seated on the vyasāsana, so Kṛṣṇa Himself, Balarāma has come; but the guru is of course non-different... " Who knows exactly what he was thinking? He was thinking, "Somehow or other I am on this vyāsāsana, and therefore I don’t have to stand up." The ambassador may be coming somewhere, representing the king, and everybody may stand up and respect. But when the king himself comes, the ambassador won’t stand? Of course, the ambassador would stand up. He is simply the servant of the king. When the ambassador goes to a foreign country, he may be given so many receptions, and he may be given so much honor, but after all he is nothing but the peon to the king; he is simply bearing the message of the king. He is a messenger. If the king comes and the ambassador thinks, “This is my house.” This of course, is a mistake on his part.

The example we’re giving, Romaharṣaṇa is sitting on his vyāsāsana. So Balarāma comes and He takes a piece of grass and He touches him. And simply by touching him with a piece of grass, He takes his life. Then everyone starts to lament; but nobody can say anything because Balarāma is Svatantra-īśvara. He is the independent Personality of Godhead. He can do as He pleases. They were now lamenting, "Who will speak the Bhāgavatam to us? He was our teacher." They simply approached Him with a question, to solve their problem. Not to challenge that, ‘You had no right to take his life!" The Lord has every right. But they were in a predicament. So then Balarāma, he established Sūta Goswami (the son of Romaharṣaṇa) to give the Bhāgavatam to them. So this is the situation.

Kṛṣṇa is the Independent Personality of Godhead. No one can dictate to Him. Of course, in love He may accept to do something, that is also His independence. He is the reservoir of all the best qualities, of all good qualities. Even the qualities, which in this material world appear to be bad, are good in Him. So naturally He has got compassion, He has a loving nature, mercy, friendliness, forgiveness, benevolence… He so many qualities. Therefore naturally, if someone surrenders to Him, and treats Him as his Eternal Master, as his friend, then Kṛṣṇa is not one who cannot reciprocate. He is more able than anyone else. But no one can make any demand over Kṛṣṇa. Apart from love, there is no other call which Kṛṣna… even then Kṛṣṇa is independent. It is not that He has to listen to anyone; He may choose to listen to His loved one, He may accept that position out of His causeless, inconceivable mercy, and qualities. But He is independent; He can do as He pleases.

If some devotee takes Kṛṣṇa for granted, takes the spiritual master for granted, then immediately his devotional service is hampered. “I’ve done so much for my spiritual master,” or Kṛṣṇa, it’s the same thing. We don’t serve Kṛṣṇa except through the spiritual master. “So now, what is He going to do for Me? He is not giving me enough mercy. Why is he giving this god-brother so much mercy? I am better than he is; I’ve done more service, I am more sincere in every respect, I am so much more intelligent.” Well, that person is a rascal. The spiritual master contains, in relation to his disciples, the same quality as the Personality of Godhead; he is completely independent. He can give or recall his mercy as he pleases. No obligation. If the disciple does not follow, the spiritual master is not obligated. He can give his mercy according to the way he sees it. Either (by) neglect he may give his mercy or by attention. One can lament or pray, to get some attention; that’s another thing. But we cannot demand. There’s no demand that can be made on Kṛṣṇa.

Even some devotees, they may be… Just like Nārada Muni, he was meditating on Kṛṣṇa, His holy name, chanting. And suddenly Kṛṣṇa appeared to him. And then Kṛṣṇa disappeared. When Kṛṣṇa appeared, Nārada Muni was taken to the heights of ecstasy, of complete jubilation at meeting his long lost Lord and the moment, Kṛṣṇa disappeared and he was cast down into the pits of desperation, "Where is Kṛṣṇa!?" Again he tried to adjust his sitting position, he tried to do the praṇāyāma, he tried the mantra, he tried any way he had done before, “How to again bring back Kṛṣṇa?” But Kṛṣṇa is not subject to come by our mechanical. By any mechanical means, by gymnastics or by… even by the practice of devotional service, by sādhana-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa is not obligated to come. You cannot say that, "If I perform 3 lakhs of names, 300,000 names, Kṛṣṇa must appear!" There's no such mechanical process. Even if you do for one crore births chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, Kṛṣṇa does not have to come. No obligation. One can go on practicing devotional service for one crore of births, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, without seeing Kṛṣṇa. If one does not avoid offenses in his devotional service, then he won’t make progress.

Kṛṣṇa will come on His own sweet will. So long as one is maintaining this proud attitude, somehow we are hanging on to the false conception of our own importance in relation to Kṛṣṇa, in relation to the spiritual master, in our relation to others, not realizing how infinitesimal, how insignificant we are, Kṛṣṇa is not obligated to come. So that puffed up attitude causes us to commit offenses. We start evaluating that how much devotional service we perform, and therefore how much service or how much surrender we can avoid. And that is our pitfall, that is our downfall.

So, we should never think that we are indispensable in Kṛṣṇa’s service. In fact, it mentions that sometimes devotees get elevated to the platform of bhāva. Bhāva platform is where one is crying, tears are coming in the eyes, hairs are standing on end; aṣṭa-sāttvika-bhāva is manifested. He's completely, continuously engaged in devotional service. In that position Kṛṣṇa, he may keep him waiting for thousand births, without appearing, without bringing him, relishing the desire of the devotee to come to Him. He may sometimes even walk up to the devotee and just stand next to him; and the devotee can smell the aroma of His body and go mad, looking,"Where is Kṛṣṇa? What is this!" Sometimes Kṛṣṇa may even touch the devotee, without appearing. Of course, that is a very elevated platform. The point is what attitude should the devotee take? This is important because we have to avoid offenses. Sometimes devotees ask, “Why is it – I am chanting for three years, I am trying so hard. I am not getting any taste for chanting? I don’t see what is in this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement.” But another person, he chants for one day, and immediately he is getting a taste. And it's not that anyone chants three years, they got no taste. It is just that at that moment, the person is in māyā.

The reason why someone doesn’t get a taste is because they commit offenses. Because they’re not understanding how to avoid offenses. They’re not obeying the instructions of the spiritual master, or they’re criticizing Vaiṣṇavas, or they’re criticizing the scripture, or they’re committing sinful acts on the strength of chanting, or they’re thinking that Kṛṣṇa and the demigods are the same, or they’re putting their own imagination… ideas in the holy name, not knowing that Kṛṣṇa and the holy name are non-different. Or they’re preaching fanatically to unfaithful people, not seeing how it is straying them away from Kṛṣṇa. Or theyre thinking this is like some type of pious activity for going to Svarga-loka, and so on and so forth. So as a result, they’re not getting taste. That is not anyone’s fault but their own fault. It is their own negligence.

There was a devotee who had committed an offense to Lord Caitanya’s devotees and when he went to see Lord Caitanya, Lord Caitanya said, "I will not see him anymore. You do not bring him before me. I do not want to see his face, who has committed such an offense." So that devotee, he was very much frustrated to understand that he could not see Lord Caitanya. So he was feeling so bad that, “Im not able to see Lord Caitanya.”, that he begged, “When will I be able to see Lord Caitanya again?” And Lord Caitanya sent the message out, "After one crore births – after 10 million births – you can see Me." And when that devotee heard that “You can see Lord Caitanya after ten million births.”, he started jumping and shouting “Haribol! Haribol!!! Gaura Haribol!!! I thought Id never be able to see Lord Caitanya again!” He got great hope. He thought that “Never again will I see Lord Caitanya.” And when he heard only 10 million births, that “Sometime, I’m going to see Lord Caitanya.” He was filled with jubilation.

Even in this material world, brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (Cc. Madhya 19.151) Do you know for how many births we’ve been in this material world? There is no computer that can come up with the figure, without using multiple systems. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite. One brahmāṇḍa is like a sealed prison, which is created at the birth of Brahmā and is destroyed at the end; that’s why it is called brahmāṇḍa. It lasts for the life of Brahmā. Brahmā is living… His one day is 4,300,000 years times one thousand (4,300,000x 1000 = 4,300,000000) In his one day. And he is living day and night. And he is living 30 days in a month, 12 months in a year, 100 years! And we are going brahmāṇḍa bhramite, we are wandering from universe, because after Brahmā’s life the whole material world is dissolved. Then again when Kṛṣṇa desires, He creates. Again we are going to a new universe and stay for one lifetime of Brahmā; as bug, as insect, as human being, again back down. And we’re wandering like this, brahmāṇḍa bhramite, from universe to universe. And its not that it takes one day to go from one universe to the next. What is a million births?

So long as the devotee “Ill serve so long and if I don’t get Kṛṣṇa within that time, then ill try something else.” That means he has no faith. One has to have the determination that there is nothing in this material world worth having. There is nothing else I want but Kṛṣṇa and I have no terms. My terms is I simply want to serve Kṛṣṇa in any condition. Kṛṣṇa is not so cruel that He does not give the situation we require to serve Him. But the devotee who is actually going to get Kṛṣṇa, is one who is simply prepared, or determined, or simply fixed in the desire, that “I have no other goal than to reach Kṛṣṇa.” That is pure devotion.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam 
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
(Cc. Madhya 19.167)

So even if someone isnt so advanced…. Arjuna was told “You simply think of Me.” He said, “I cant do it. To simply think of you Kṛṣṇa is so difficult, because the mind is just more difficult to control than the raging wind. To simply think of you…” Of course, Arjuna is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but he saw that “Well it may be difficult, you show me another way.” Actually Arjuna was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but still he asked for our benefit, “Alright if I cant think of you always, what else can I do?” “So alright then, practice thinking of me.” But the devotee should understand that even if he’s not able to always think of Kṛṣṇa, “What is the goal?” If we start to think that not being able to think of Kṛṣṇa… “This is alright. Its good enough.” Make some kind of peer-pyschology that “My others… they’re also not so advanced, so I’m not so advanced. So I’m good enough. We have to take the guru, the śāstra and the sādhu as our standard.

If each individual devotee is fixed with the absolute standard, then he makes absolute progress. What is the problem with contemporary religion? Everyone is basing their standard on the relative imperfections of the people they see around them. And so gradually it goes one step further and further off. “My grandmother, she followed Ekādaśī, she fasted on Pūrṇimā, she did Kṛṣṇa-pūjā, she said ‘Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa!’ every time she saw anyone and she always wore tilaka. So then my father, he left off the tilaka and he left off the Ekādaśīs, but he used to bow down before the deity. And then my father, so he used to smoke and take tea, but he used to also say ‘Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa!’ when he saw people. And then what am I doing? I’m drinking wine but I also put tulasī on my chicken. (laughter) You see. And then it goes from this point. And you see what is happening. As the culture goes down, and the families break up, the traditions are ruined, and step-by-step, people go further and further into ignorance.

And the same thing can happen in any spiritual movement. What is the system of guru-paraṁparā? It is simply, they are sweepers. Guru means, he’s a sweeper; to sweep out all the dirt and to maintain the pure line. We have to fixed up – what is the goal? And māyā’s trick is to first of all make us forget Kṛṣṇa and then to make us fall down. First forgetfulness is to forget, “What is pure devotional service, what is my goal?”, and start to think that, “My relative position in bhakti… my position is good enough.” As soon as we become nonchalant, as soon as we become lethargic in that way, stop trying to endeavor for perfection, then we fall down. That’s the next step. Then gradually we fall down. Because we lose that… “Why were not getting a taste?”, cause we not trying to become pure devotees. That’s why someone’s not getting a taste. Hes trying to maintain himself in some middle position, losing sight of the goal. He knows the material world is miserable, theoretically, but he is not determined – “I want to reach Kṛṣṇa!”

So while getting the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, little bit of protection from material misery, he is making progress back to Kṛṣṇa, he is progressing on the way; he is thinking “Well this is good enough, one foot in māyā and one foot in Kṛṣṇa.” and then he is finished. Then Kṛṣṇa cuts off the shelter, because he is no longer walking to Kṛṣṇa. He looked back to māyā. What happens if you are in the middle of the river (this example is given by the sages), and you try to stay with a foot in one boat and the other boat at the same time. You’re either going to rupture all your ligaments and fall into the water, or you have to jump into one boat or the other. We’re stepping, you see, from material world to spiritual world. That step, even taking one or five lifetimes. It can take one minute! But we’re making this step, whether cold war or hot war. It’s a war with māyā. And if one starts to see māyā as a friend, that means you lost the battle. That means māyā has won that skirmish.

Therefore why did śāstra go so much into detail - what is to do, what is not to do? Kārya, akārya. Who doesn’t know what to do and what not to do, akārya kārya ajānataḥ, guru tyāgaṁ vidhīyate. Even if he is a guru, he should be given up. That is what Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is saying. Who else is there to help us? We surround ourselves with our, you see, society and friendship and nation. But who can save us at the time of death? Actually Kṛṣṇa never lets the soul down. But if the soul thinks, “I have some demand, Kṛṣṇa you must do this.” No, Kṛṣṇa, He will not let His devotee down. But how He will protect His devotee, that is His own interest. The devotees’ interest is not that “How Kṛṣṇa will protect me, how He will provide for me.” The devotees’ interest is simply, “How I will serve Kṛṣṇa through guru?” and Kṛṣṇa is interested, “How I will protect My devotee?” He’s given His promise, “My devotee will never perish.” The devotee is thinking “How I can distribute these books? How I can make this member? How I can perform this service? How I can build this samādhi? How I can deliver these people?” And he goes on. And Kṛṣṇa, He is willing that, “Now how I can protect My devotee?” You see. Its wonderful!

Actually I was visiting one temple where Lord Caitanya took sannyāsa. I was going on my way to see the birthplace of Kṛṣṇādāsa Kavirāja, and we were planning to go there and reach by noon and come back. But we were little late. Its not unusual. And we reached the temple of Lord Caitanya sannyāsa, established by Gadādhara Dāsa and Narahari Ṭhākura, the āśrama of Keśava Bhārati, at 12:00. So I asked the Goswami, the disciple, to take me on to the another one hour drive to the birthplace of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. And so he insisted that, “You have to take prasādam!” I said that, “No. I have to reach his place and see the birthplace of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. We want to do some development work there.” He said, “No, you are thinking of doing Kṛṣṇa’s work, that’s your lookout. But Kṛṣṇa’s lookout is that he has to feed you. So on behalf of Kṛṣṇa’s order, you must accept His prasādam.” So what could I do? (laughter) So they gave a very nice prasāda also!

Actually, that is a fact, what he said was correct. That it is Kṛṣṇa’s lookout, you see. Of course, we take responsibility, “This is my body. I have to watch out for my body on behalf of Kṛṣṇa.” That is there. We are not to be negligent. We take it that this is Kṛṣṇa’s property. But how the devotee is able to pull on, that you see, no materialist can dare to take such a position. They want to make so many arrangements. But a devotee is able to maintain on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy in such a way and actually feel fully protected. Even in his activities. Even as gṛhasthas are doing their work, because they’re depending on Kṛṣṇa, they’re accepting what Kṛṣṇa sends. And Kṛṣṇa also helps in every sphere, if one is actually a devotee. The clue is that we have to devotees. Devotee means to actually want to please Kṛṣṇa through our service. And how pure devotee we are is how much we are able to avoid committing offenses. How able we are to be fixed in the desire to satisfy the spiritual master. And sincerely try for that.

So although Kṛṣṇa does not have any obligation, He can let us wait; but yet, He is more eager than we are! To have us come to Him. He is more eager than we are, to have us come. For one step we take to Kṛṣṇa, He takes ten steps to us. He is so anxious. Sanātana Gosvāmī describes that sometimes when the conditioned soul finally reaches Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa embraces him crying, “I have been waiting for you for so long!! What took you so long to come!?” Even sometimes Kṛṣṇa falls unconscious, overjoyed by meeting His devotee. And the devotee, what to speak… he also falls unconscious. Kṛṣṇa is so eager for us to come back to Him, but we are just dragging our feet, making so many materialistic considerations. If we became a little bit interested in trying to do what Kṛṣṇa wanted, trying to understand the mind of the spiritual master in deliver the falling souls… you see.

And Kṛṣṇa is so easily available, because He is more anxious than we can imagine, for us to return to Him. But Kṛṣṇa… “I don’t want to come, just wait Kṛṣṇa, I have to finish this one thing. You have come but I have to enjoy this before I have time for You.” “Okay you enjoy first and then come.” And we are taking this… Kṛṣṇa is saying, “You enjoy first and then you come.” We are going on enjoying and then going to Kṛṣṇa doesn’t come. And if one is actually simply fixed that, “I want to reach Kṛṣṇa.”, Kṛṣṇa does not make him wait very long. Infact in the Nectar of Devotion, it describes that such advanced devotees, Kṛṣṇa Himself cannot wait. He becomes very eager. He wants to meet the devotee. Its not a question of Him revealing Himself. He goes to meet His devotee. He is anxious to meet His devotee! That devotee is interested in serving Kṛṣṇa, you see.

So here we see that Yamarāja, he is instructing them in the actual position that, “You can try and try again but you won’t be happy.” That the secret for happiness is only Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Even you want to be materially happy, He is the one who creates and annihilates at His sweet wilḷ. You can make all arrangements to be happy, but if it is not in Kṛṣṇa’s mind that you should be happy in that way, if you should not have those arrangements, He will destroy them, no matter where a person goes. If Kṛṣṇa wants to keep someone in poverty, he can make all arrangements to be rich but somehow or another, he won’t be rich. And if Kṛṣṇa wants one to be rich, He can make all arrangements and money comes to him (the soul).

So that’s why Kṛṣṇa says we should go on performing our duty in devotional service, depending upon Him. And Kṛṣṇa, it’s His lookout. Its His lookout. Unto whatever extent we can depend on Kṛṣṇa, to that extent he takes over our life. You know, someone thinks… I remember one time a devotee was suffering from an asthma attack and he started to cry out, “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Why you are doing this to me!?” It was the most terrifying and offensive thing to hear someone say that. I stopped him, “How you can say this?” We have committed so many sinful activities in our life, in our countless lives. If we are suffering, it is only our own fault from our previous lives and this life. How you are blaming Kṛṣṇa? The materialist is committing so many…. this is material life. Materialist, he does all kinds of nasty things, all kinds of offensive things. And if he gets a little success, he thinks “Im so clever, im so expert! Ive created this situation for myself. I am happy, powerful and well situated.” And as soon as he is put in misery, he thinks, “Why Kṛṣṇa is doing this to me?” And a devotee, he suffers any kind of difficulty, he thinks “This is due to all the sinful life I've always done. Kṛṣṇa is so kind, he is only giving me a token of what I deserve.” And if he has any success, he thinks, “Oh! Look what Kṛṣṇa has done!” You see, what is sleeping for the self-realized soul is awakening time for the man in materialistic ignorance. And what is the waking time for the self-realized soul, that is the sleeping time for the materialist. They are like the two opposite sides of the coin, like day and night. So the materialist, he has no shelter. Therefore he is always miserable. And the devotee, he has no problem. And he has always Kṛṣṇa’s shelter. Therefore it is said that someone who is a pure devotee, he is reservoir of all the good qualities of the demigods.

So, this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is meant for creating brāhmaṇas, Prabhupāda said. Because the society has no brāhmaṇas. Infact, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “When we bring new people into our movement, they make not be able to follow all our principles. So better they live outside and come to the temple and associate, and learn vairāgya. Learn what is the philosophy. When theyre willing to follow all our Kṛṣṇa conscious principles, then let them come and stay. Because we don’t want to bring materialistic people within our society, because they will contaminate the whole thing. This society is meant… doesn’t matter if the whole world doesn’t become just like our society. We don’t expect everyone will become devotee like this. But someone should show what is the standard. What is the standard of perfection? That is the mission of this movement. And if someone cannot maintain the standard… you see, then we should not let him in until he is strong enough by associating, that he can actually maintain it. It is for his own benefit.

So anyone who is a disciple in this sampradāya is expected to be on the level of surrender to the spiritual master. And according to his occupational position, according to his service as assigned to him by the spiritual master, he has to carry out those instructions. That is why we don’t accept cheap disciples. We don’t want millions of disciples. There’s some gurus in Bengal who they take 1000 people, 5000 people, 10000 people in a big pandal. They say, “Everybody stand up, who wants to take initiation.” So everybody stands up. “Now raise your hands.” Then he says, “Oṁ tat sat!” or something. “You’re all my disciples.” 10,000, one shot. You come and give your guru-dakṣiṇā in the tent on the side. (laughter) You see. And it is not income tax exemptible, but you can give number 2 (a type of tax form). Principle is simply donate to the guru, no other principle. “And make me more disciples!” It only felt something religious. But no restriction. You can eat meat, you can do this, you can do that. You will become god very soon. This is their promise. “You worship me because I am god and what is the result? You will also become god.” So in this way, they are cheating.

So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, Prabhupāda said, is not interested in that. We want to find who are the sincere seekers of the Absolute Truth and we want to give them an opportunity to reach the goal. Otherwise, we can reduce our standard - we can get so many people. But by reducing our standard if they don’t reach Kṛṣṇa, then what is the use? To maintain some artificial followers. If you pay disciples, you could get lots. But what is the use? Disciple means that he is giving to the guru. In Māyāpur, I often think that we should pay something, token, and we will get so many people because they want to send home 50 rupees to their mother. But the question of course is that if theyre doing no service and they come and follow all the principles and take a token, then they may be a step up. Theres some progress and that way it has some good value. But how do maintain that… that is not the standard. How to keep the standard. Actually the real standard is to be completely surrendered. And it’s a very difficult situation. That there’s two things: one thing is to bring people up. But then you see... you can argue that well if you get a person to give charity, that is also bringing him up. But the real thing is we want to get the person up, back to Godhead. So there has to be the complete program to take a person from the first step to the last step. Otherwise, we’re cheating. We’re misleading the people. If we can take one to the final goal, then we shouldn’t sit on these big seats or we shouldn’t preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then we’re bluffing. We have to be able to take the person from the beginning to the end state.

So that principle, Prabhupāda has given – how we can reach the final stage of devotional service? And once a person makes some advancement, he shouldn’t step back. If a person makes a progress to one point and then he becomes… again he takes back steps, that is very unfortunate. Whatever progress we make, we have to maintain. No leaps and bounds ahead. Whatever progress we make, we have to protect. And go on, smooth and sure. We are not interested in immediate. We are interested in sure. Even if its slow. But sure. We want sure progress. So by Lord Caitanyas mercy, even our slow our sure step forward means very rapid. Because of His mercy. As we are walking, but Kṛṣṇa is walking to us so much faster. So our slow step forward, is a HUGE mile forward from Kṛṣṇa’s side. He is practically running while we are walking,. But we have to keep stepping. If we stop walking to Kṛṣṇa, if we stop proceeding to Kṛṣṇa, if we lose our link with the Absolute Goal and start to again… re-absorbed in our material mind and body, conceptualization… thinking that this is the all-in-all, then we’re finished. Because then Krsnas waiting, “Alright so let him finish that, then I’ll come.”

That is why a devotee is more merciful. He grabs a disciple by the ear and drags him, “No what are you waiting here for? You go to Kṛṣṇa!” Kṛṣṇa wont come unless the devotee is going to Him. But the spiritual master is so kind, the devotee is standing there spaced out, standing there with his head in the clouds, in māyā; and the spiritual master pushes him, “You go to Kṛṣṇa, don’t waste time here.” That is why the devotee is considered to be more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. Jaya!

(indistinct question)

Yes… Arjuna asked the same question to Kṛṣṇa, that “If I cant think of you at every moment then what to do?” He said, “Abhyāsa.” Then you have to practice. How does a dog learn? A dog, he passes stool in the house. You put his nose in it and say, “What are you doing?” And then the dog, finally after being beaten, putting his nose in it, again and again; finally he knows that “Oh, now it is time to pass nature call? Let me go outside otherwise I will get hit.” You see? So why do you think we do something, we get kicked? We should know “I’m getting kicked because I’m in māyā. This is because of my material desires.” This is why the devotee takes being kicked as Krsnas mercy. An impetus for us to become virakti. To become disgusted with this material world. And then we practice. We practice training our mind. We catch our mind… the mind is just like a dog, just like a wild animal, just running here and there. And the intelligence sees that, “Where my mind is running to?” Grab it! Get back to Kṛṣṇa. Just like the mother takes care of the kid, so like that our intelligence is absorbed in the mind, where it goes. The mother looks “Hes taking one knife and hes going to start to play in his mouth” (takes knife away) Like that, our mind is just like an infant, running here and there untrained. So how we have to train our mind with our intelligence. That intelligence is given by mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa. That intelligence we get. That’s why we chant everyday 16 rounds. That’s why we follow these 4 regulative principles. To get spiritual intelligence. So that when we see our mind going off, when we see our senses uncontrolled, we control. If we don’t practice strictly this sādhanā of chanting, of hearing the class, of associating with devotees, then we don’t get that intelligence ‘How to control our mind?’ We get bewildered, we get covered up! That is why it is a complete process. We have to practice, we have to chant, we have to do all these things. And then we see our mind is going, we have to take real austerity and rip it back. See if the mother is a drunkard, she doesn’t care. The kid can die or live. You see? If our intelligence becomes infatuated with the glare of this material world and loses sight that our goal is to become pure devotees, then it doesn’t think that if the mind goes off it means very much. Ah, let it play, who cares? We become bewildered by the glare of māyā. Then Kṛṣṇa sends so many representatives, so many instructions. Smashes us in different ways. Instructs us in different ways, to try to bring us around. So from our own side what do we do? We have to practice our devotional service. We have to practice following the instructions of the spiritual master. On one side watering the plant and other side ripping out the weeds. Ripping out the weeds! 50% of time watering and 50% weeding. This is the formula Prabhupāda gave.

So it seems like it takes forever for a child to grow up. But then after a while, pretty soon, before you know it, the child is already grown up. Like that it seems to take forever for our mind to be controlled. But we just stick to it. The mother doesn’t say, “Well its taking too much trouble. Forget it. Kill the kid.” See that is no mother. It’s a Rākṣasa. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. We cant give up, “Oh its so difficult to go on trying to control the mind” That means we are not chanting, we are not following. We are just somehow bewildered. That we become so hopeless.