19801002 Srimad-Bhagavatam.1.16.23 Drop of Nectar @ New Orleans, USA

S.B. 1.16.23

yadvāmba te bhūri-bharāvatāra- kṛtāvatārasya harer dharitri  antarhitasya smaratī visṛṣṭā karmāṇi nirvāṇa-vilambitāni

O mother earth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, incarnated Himself as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa just to unload your heavy burden. All His activities here are transcendental, and they cement the path of liberation. You are now bereft of His presence. You are probably now thinking of those activities and feeling sorry in their absence.

Link to the purport : http://vedabase.com/en/sb/1/16/23

(Translation is read again by GM)

The personality of religiosity is asking Mother Earth why she is lamenting. Now he is asking whether it is due to separation of the Lord.

When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Raya what is the greatest suffering that anyone can suffer in this world? Ramananda Raya said, "The suffering of a pure devotee for another pure devotee or the separation of a pure devotee is the greatest suffering. That is the greatest, most intense, separation. So, Mother Earth is actually a great devotee and she was very fortunate to always have Lord Krishna’s lotus foot dust on her body. Others were sometimes separated from Krishna and sometimes they were united with Krishna. But the whole duration of Lord Krishna’s pastimes, Mother Earth was having His lotus feet touching her. So you can imagine the extensive separation she must have been feeling when Lord Krishna left.

The devotees of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it can hardly be described, the situation that they were in once Caitanya Mahaprabhu left this world. Knowing that when the Lord leaves, the intense separation one feels, Haridas Thakura, he requested Lord Caitanya, that he wanted to leave first. Therefore on his request, the wonderful pastime of the disappearance of Haridas Thakura and his Samadhi after bathing in the ocean and subsequent kirtans and feasts were celebrated. Haridas Thakur could understand that it would be a very difficult time to be present after the Lord had left.

When Srinivas acharya visited the devotees in Jagannath Puri, he was amazed to see that they were still living. For instance, Gadhadhara prabhu was deep in separation of the Lord. He could hardly sleep or eat, there was hardly anything he could do except for cry every time he thought of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When Srinivas went to see Vishnu Priya, the consort of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who from the age of 16 had to tolerate His separation, and continued to stay on this earth even after He left, she had become so thin. Her body had become covered with dust and she wasn’t taking care of her clothes. Her hair had become untidy. There was no difference to her between day and night. She was simply chanting the names of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. She was simply engaged in offering Him worship. Yet to see her, those who were greatly fortunate enough, she was so effulgent. One could understand that she was completely transcendentally situated. This is a very difficult thing for someone on a gross, material platform to understand. But actually these great souls, their position in this intense worship of Lord Caitanya or Lord Krishna becomes transcendental and they are not bound by the ordinary rules and regulations. These are very much exceptional situations. At that point, they are no longer able to preach and they are simply engaged in the worship of the Lord. So the Personality of Religiosity is asking Mother Earth that these may be, in other words the symptoms that she is experiencing may actually just be the symptoms of separation from the Lord. He would ask different things, is it because of the irreligious kings or is it because of the irreligious activities of the people, why you are lamenting? Now he is asking. Must be because Krishna has left. It is natural that when the spiritual master or when the Supreme Personality of Godhead leaves, that the disciple or devotee will cry. It is natural they will feel separation because there is a relationship of love. It is an intense relationship, so it's very natural that these things happen. So the Personality of Religiosity is very expert, astute in understanding the different facets of religiosity, so he is inquiring finally if this may not be the symptom that she is experiencing. And soon she will reveal her mind.

Vishwanatha Cakravarthi Thakur, who is especially blessed by Mother Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, has instructed us that, nirvana vilambitaani… means that which puts nirvana or liberation to shame– far transcends it. People are trying hard very to get out of the cycle of birth and death and get salvation. And, as a result of that, some people succeed. But Vishwanatha Cakravarthi Thakur is saying that that success is insignificant, compared to someone who gets pure devotional service for Krishna ; because simply by remembering the pastimes of Krishna, they are so powerful, they are so wonderful, that one can sense by far the pleasure of impersonal liberation. There is an example that if you take all the happiness that a human being can have, the human being, the standard perfect happiness of a human being, and if you give that numero one, and take that as a standard on this earth, the maximum. Of course the vedic intelligence is completely transparent, of course different people may have different ideas as to what is maximum happiness. But actually the maximum happiness a person can have is the happiness of someone situated in the mode of goodness. Today their conception of happiness is contaminated by the modes of passion and ignorance may give them a spurt of happiness but throws them into anxiety, fear and lamentation and misery. So that kind of happiness is not considered to be very significant. But the point is that whatever the maximum happiness one can have on this planet in one’s life, is one. Then from there one we can start to begin to understand the relative happiness in this universe. And there is a scale that from here if one goes to the Gandharva loka, then his happiness increases and he becomes ten times happier. If he goes to the, I forget the exact, Chamara, Kinnara, Siddha, each time one goes up it goes up to a hundred, then a thousand, and ten thousand, one hundred thousand, finally when one gets up to Indra Loka then it is hundreds of thousands of times more happiness than what one experiences here. And when one comes up to Brahma loka, then again it's thousands of times more happiness. And then it is compared that the happiness of nirvana or liberation compared to the happiness of Brahma loka, the happiness of Brahma loka is not even a drop compared to the ocean. That is how deep the transcendental happiness of liberation is. And then it goes on compares that liberation, if you compare that with the happiness experienced by a pure devotee appreciating the pastimes of Krishna, that whole ocean of liberation is like the quantity of water in the impression of a calf’s foot (that quantity of water) compared to the vast ocean of the transcendental bliss of Krishna’s pastimes. People on this earth are struggling for insignificant quantity of happiness. When with the same effort, with even a fraction of sincerity one can easily transcend all the expectations, trillions and billions of unlimited number of times, by doing pure devotional service. Actually everyone is being cheated.

In South India, many people, they know that their happiness is much higher. I met a devotee of sorts… and he told me that I am not interested in the happiness of this world. I know that the women in this world are all smelly and bad. I want to go to the heavenly planets and enjoy the apsaras. I said, "Are you crazy?

In South India, the people are completely karma kanda, they know that this world is terrible. So he said that although, I am thinking that if I were to be born in America, then that may also be alright because there it is likely a heavenly planet. They have funny ideas.

Well, you people are here born in the heavenly planets, in the minds of many Indians. So you can understand that if this is comparatively supposed to be the heavenly planets, it is still hellish. Of course, heavenly planets is something much different. But it is like that in the material world. It doesn’t matter what standard one is living at (when it is material), he thinks that it is miserable, comparatively. He doesn’t think it is miserable necessarily but he feels that it is not so much greater, because just like the ant is living two three days, but in that two three days he is actually living a hundred years of his life. The mosquito is living perhaps an hour or a day and in that living a hundred years and as Prabhupad explained, after having a complete life – birth, growing, reproduction, dwindling, dying and everything is happening. Their family life or whatever they have is happening. A rabbit, three years or one year, whatever its life span is, everything happens in that time. Their tempo is increased. So similarly, as one goes to higher planetary systems their life spans may be hundreds and hundreds of years, their happiness may be more, but they don’t appreciate it to that extent because everything is relatively adjusted, the full benefit. But actually, transcendental happiness, that doesn't have any limits. One is transcending the obvious material relativities and taken to the absolute platform. So as long as one is desiring heavenly planets, or another birth or any kind of situation, even if he attains that, they will never be satisfied, like the person who is thinking if I could only be born in America, I will be happy. Because of propaganda. But actually we see the American people, they are more unhappy. Because, in spite of having so many things, they are completely frustrated, because they are still not satisfied. They have and the have nots. Those who have, they are frustrated, and those who don't have are frustrated.

Prabhupada gave the story about the Delhi laddoo and the Lucknow laddoo. That there is a sweet shop in Lucknow, where they sell very wonderful sweet balls. And they advertise that these sweet balls are so wonderful that anyone who hasn’t had it, he can understand that his life is wasted. And if he has not tasted this laddoo then that means that your life, you can just take it for granted that you have not really lived. Therefore your life is useless. 90% wasted. But if you take that sweet, even you take it, as soon as you had one, it was so good you want another one. And you cannot rest till you get another one ; you see, then you feel very frustrated by not having it. So, in this way, Srila Prabhupad explained, that in any case, whether you haven't tasted your life is wasted, and you've tasted it, your life is wasted because you are still not satisfied– you can't live without getting it again and again. So where there is sweet, if one doesn’t take it, he doesn’t spend any money, doesn’t waste any time, doesn’t go to the store… all right, he may be feeling some anxiety that I haven’t tried it, I haven’t tasted it. But the person who has tasted, he is still in anxiety, that he had to go down there and spend his money, he is still frustrated. So it is better not to waste any money. Material enjoyment is like that.

We may have so many conceptions, what is happiness, but when we get that, it is not what we wanted. In this way, as soon as we desire material things we are controlled by the illusory energy: prakriter kriyamaanaani gunaih karmaani sarvashaha, ahankaara vimudhaatma, kartaaham iti manyate. And as soon as we desire Krishna’s service, then we are under the protection of the divine nature of Subhadra Devi. So we can choose who we want to control us. Because we are going to be controlled by material desires or by spiritual desires. So Lord Caitanya is saying, jiv jaago, jiv jaago, Gaurachandra bole, kota nidra jaao maaya, pishaachira kole. How long will you remain sleeping on the lap of the witch maya? How long do you want to be kicked? Kicked and kicked again? So why do we cling to the feet of maya when she is only kicking us? So we should simply take shelter – aami bina bandhu ke ache tomaar? Who is your friend, who is your true friend except for Me? This is Lord Caitanya’s statement. He has come here, He has given us the aushadi, the great medicine, Harinama, because by chanting Hari naama, one instantly gets a drop of the nectar of transcendental life. And then if we continue to chant, one day we will experience the ocean of transcendental happiness. Even that one drop is worth more than all the material happiness in the world put together...far far more. Because everything in the material world is so relative, is so mixed with misery, that we are never satisfied but even one drop of Krishna’s transcendental qualities, appreciation, fully satisfies the soul. Therefore we… First para of the Sikshaashtakam tells us that simply by chanting and hearing the ocean of transcendental happiness, our transcendental knowledge, everything is realized. So we should see that who we want to serve, because servant we are – jivera swarupa hoya nityera Krishna das. We are the eternal servant of Krishna. And everyone that we meet, they are also the servant of Krishna, but some people recognize that and some people have forgotten that, some people are in ignorance. We go out to distribute books, we go out to discuss with people, to remind them that they are the servant of Krishna. That they are now serving maya and that service is killing them. By serving maya one must die and one must again be born and by serving Krishna, one never after dying needs to be born again. So serving Krishna gives life while serving maya means death. So therefore the devotees are considered to be the most compassionate of all people, because what they are giving, that gift has got no comparison, anywhere in this universe.

People are sleeping in illusion and when a devotee wakes that person up, begins his spiritual life, that means that everything is about to change – everything has already changed. Just like Narada Muni he, that simply by taking the mahaprasad of the Bhaktivedantas, his ability to understand spiritual life, his attachment for spiritual life and his taste for chanting the holy name, everything became manifest.
Prabhupad describes it that it works favorable (in a good sense), slow poison.

We take chanting, we take prasadam, gradually it transforms our material desires and puts us on the transcendental platform. We become attached to Lord Krishna. When king Birambir maharaj stole the books from Srinivasa Acarya, Srinivas was feeling such separation, he fell down, he was smashing his head, you could imagine, he was given all the books by the residents of Vrndavan, to take these books to distribute them. And on the way, they are all stolen! the Caitanya Caritamrita, the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, Vidagda Madhava, Lalitha Madhava, all the books of the Goswamis, that they spent years and years writing by hand, filled with the nectar of Lord Krishna's and Caitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes… All stolen. Narottam Thakur and Shyamananda Pandit who were with him they didn't want to show his face to anyone, they thought, "Let's just jump into the agni kunda into that ocean of fire and finish. How could he again see those vaishnavas? They had entrusted you with these books and everyone, lost, finished! But somehow or other, Srinivas Acarya got message that if he went to one king, Birambir maharaj of Vishnupur in the forest, he may be able to find these books. So he comforted the other two and had them go back to preaching and that he would soon inform them. He was confident that only Krishna could have done such a thing that he must find these books again. So then finally, reaching the palace of Maharaj Birambir, Srinivas Acarya got the opportunity to give class on the Bhagavatam and by hearing the Bhagavatam, the Birambir was convinced about the exalted position of Srinivas and he surrendered at his lotus feet.

Actually, the scriptures describe that by simply having those books in his palace, simply by seeing those books, his whole life was transformed. He became purified. No sooner did he see those books (they were so powerful) than his heart became pure and he immediately started to feel that I have committed a great offence. These books are belonging to some great vaishnava and I have taken them ; because he actually arranged to have these books stolen, the same Birambir maharaj, by a special green bright team of armed robbers. But as soon as he saw those books, his heart was melted. So, just by having the transcendental literatures, people are benefiting so much, they cannot even imagine. The karma kanda shastras of the Bhagavata Mahatmaya give so many instances, without even reading, just by seeing Bhagavatam all the different wonderful reactions one can get. Then if one actually reads the Bhagavatam, he actually understands just the smallest portion He reaches all perfection. And actually one thing leads to the next. So these transcendental literatures, they are so important.

People come to us and say they have read these books and they want to engage in service, if we can engage them in chanting, if we can engage them in further service, we know that because of association with these literatures, their devotional life has been begun. And now if we can further encourage them, it is possible that in this very life they can completely finish off all their material attachments. They can completely become attached to Lord Krishna’s lotus feet.

In my tour of South America, we were discussing this point that now the devotees in different places whenever they go on sankirtan and they meet a favorable person they get him to sign his name and become a friend of Krishna, (in other places they call it folk or friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa and things) and there it's amigo de Krishna, Spanish… friend of Krishna. And then they have people that cultivate those people.

Adi Keshava Maharaj, in his zone, in the North East, he has told me that some of the people they have cultivated in that way, forming together in a group, have actually turned in full fledged temples and preaching centers over a period of two or three years. Just by seeing that the seeds have already been planted, when we meet them again on sankirtan, or when they come by to the temple, that they are further cultivated, that they are further watered. Because these transcendental literatures, they are like transcendental time bombs that are working constantly. Radiation effect. So when people again come by little more purified, then we step up the purification, now you should chant, now you should offer prasadam, now you should worship.

The mail order department in Los Angeles, they get so many letters from people, oh, I have read your books they are wonderful. And they write back and many people are worshipping deities in their homes, maybe right here in Chicago. They don’t even reveal the names of all the people that they are writing to. No one asks, half the time; but so many people just by getting the books, their lives are transformed. In Los Angeles there were hundreds of people that attended the Ratha Yatra with bead bags that no one ever saw before. They did not know who they were, did not know where they came from, where they got the beads. The people buy beads and they chant. And automatically a person becomes attached to Krishna.

So Rupa Goswami says, ena kena prakaarena, that by any means if one gets one attracted to Krishna, then when one is attracted, you can introduce more and more rules and regulations to avoid all the offences to quickly wind up all the impediments of pure devotional service. So, Srinivas Acarya, of course he was a great liberated soul. And you can imagine the joy when finally he regained those transcendental literatures! And not only that he regained the literatures, but he also initiated that king, Birambir maharaj, into vaishnava cult, into vaishnava sampradaya, disciplic succession. His wife, the queen begged for initiation, and she got initiation. She also begged that she could go and see Narottam Thakur, she had heard so much about him. And the king personally helped to publish those books by hand and distribute. So everything happened simply by trying to carry out the instructions of the higher authorities. There may be setbacks, there may be difficulties.

We have to avoid all offenses against vaishnavas. When we offend a vaishnava… Krishna, He can tolerate some offense, He can forgive someone for offending Him. But He can’t forgive someone who offends a vaishnava. Durvasa muni offended Maharaj Ambarish, he went all the way to Vishnu loka but He said, "No I'm sorry, I can’t help you. You have to go back to My devotee and request his forgiveness. If My devotee forgives you, then your slate is clean. But I cannot forgive you, you have offended My devotee." And again Durvasa had to go all the way back… Falling down at maharaj Ambarish’s feet, he said, "Even the most fallen dog-eaters, the untouchables, they are chanting the names of Lord Hari, how their life is transformed. What to speak of someone who is constantly worshipping." He was realizing what is the potency of someone who is rendering pure devotional service. Maharaj Ambarish appeared to be a king, he was doing his worship every day, he was washing the temple floor, so he did not look like a great powerful Yogi. He[Durvasa] come in there with his power and said, "seek him" and sent his demon after maharaj Ambarish ; the demon was destroyed by Sudarshan chakra and Durvasa muni was chased all over the universe by Sudarshan chakra. Because devotees don't put on, they don’t know even their own power. Because they are protected by divine energy. So Prabhupada said, we should be very careful not to offend other vaishnavas. Even a little, big, medium, is very hard to see, (relatively) where a vaishnava is situated. Someone who is serving the spiritual master, who is serving Krishna, he is a vaishnava and to offend a vaishnava is very bad. It should be completely avoided.

Great souls sees good qualities even if he has maximum bad qualities, he sees, oh here is a good quality. I remember in Mayapur Srila Prabhupad commented that his spiritual master said that of course his duty is to find the faults in his disciples and rectify them but he never rejects a disciple who wants to serve. The spiritual master always sees the service rendered by the disciple even if the disciple makes countless mistakes, if that service desire is still there, he adjusts. If one has no service desire of course, then only the relationship can be cut. Only if one blasphemes the spiritual master, loses faith in the spiritual master, then he is finished. That soul is highly unfortunate. So we should avoid all kinds of offences against vaishnavas. It is very painful to Krishna, very painful to the other vaishnavas and very harmful to our spiritual life. If somebody wants to find faults, he can always find faults. They can find faults in the moon, "Oh, the moon has got a (unclear) face." They can find faults in Krishna. And if someone wants to find good qualities, in a devotee you will find many good qualities. Even if there is a bad quality, by Krishna’s mercy bad qualities are destroyed.

So now is a very difficult time, because our spiritual master and Founder Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has transferred his pastimes to some other place in his visible form but his pastimes are still going on here and his movement is still spreading. So we all have to work cooperatively together so that his desires are actually achieved. He said that only half my work is finished. We must finish the other half. But in the twelve years' time the quantity of achievement is inconceivable. If we could even just maintain what he, the standard, the level of intensity that he had achieved, which we have not been able to do...

Three years ago, book distribution in America was much bigger than it is now. Different preaching, of course in other areas it is expanding. But this can only happen if everyone cooperates together, if everyone surrenders, taking Lord Caitanya’s idea as the prime idea and when maya’s idea coming up casting it aside. This choice is always before us –maya’s idea and Krishna’s idea. And if we are too much in association with materialistic people, we will choose maya’s idea ; we will neglect the order of our spiritual master. Even maya addresses the idea up to pure Krishna consciousness, sometimes. But it goes against the order of our spiritual master, so actually it is not the proper thing. So we have to stick very rigidly to the guru, sadhu, shastra – the scriptures, the spiritual master and sadhu, the great devotees’ instructions and guide our lives by them. We keep the links strong with the divine, transcendental Lord by the surrendering process. People in the whole world are suffering so much, they have no idea what they are working for, where they are heading. And we wonder how we can give them, how we can change the course of the world? All it takes is one slight glimpse, where they are at and how they are actually aimlessly going… and what is the, the slightest glimpse, slightest association, "What is the aim? And immediately everything is changed. It is just like a person running down the street, you say, "Listen, where are you going? He says, "I am going to catch the bus." [you say] "The bus is the other way!" [he goes] "Oh!"Completely turns around. It doesn’t take, you know, a whole, you know, band… just that he gets the idea that I am to going the wrong way. And he turns around and starts running the other way. All we have to do is, just give the people a glimpse, "Hey, where are you going? That's not the right way. It is this way. Phwiith! And go back to Godhead! It doesn’t take a lot. It just takes a little bit, just a little touch on the their ear . Just put a little doubt in their mind, "Hey, I don’t think you are going the right way." Then when they think about it, and "Well, what is the right way?"

" This is the right way?"

" Oh! "

A person, the best example is a man going to the restaurant. In Bangladesh one man was going to the restaurant. That was the best restaurant in town : very sweet meat. So he picked up his soup and in his soup, he found a finger, a human finger! My God! He put it in his handkerchief and went and showed it to the police after vomiting outside. Nice Mohammedan shop. Police surrounded the shop and then raided it ; dug in the back there were hundreds of cadavers, corpses and bones and things and skulls. This was a famous shop for first quality meat but they had been, to save their cost, they had been kidnapping people from the street because they weigh about 10-15 kilos of meat on them… each kilo of meat cost a dollar. So you get 10 dollars for a body. So you can imagine you know, hundreds of bodies makes up a few hundred dollars. That is the value of the human life to them. So it doesn’t take much you know if a person realized that the material happiness that he is enjoying, he is eating himself. He is actually eating himself. He is tasting his own blood. If he can just understand that, immediately he is not going to eat in that place, he is not a cannibal. So it doesn't .. first of all, you have to catch their ear… they have to listen to what we are saying. And if they just hear a little bit, everything changes. Just a little prasadam, just a little association of the transcendental literature, everything changes. They get (unlear) from the course that they are on.. and gradually come around or quickly depending on their fortune.

So Mother Earth, she is of course a great pure devotee and is completely absorbed in transcendental anxiety ; so the Personality of Religiosity is asking her, why you are suffering. May be now he is (inaudible) on the head. Are you suffering because of separation of Lord Krishna? A devotee’s suffering is not suffering, it is transcendental bliss. If a devotee is suffering means he is feeling separation from Krishna. He is no material suffering in that sense. So, in future verses we will find out more. Thank you very much. Are there any questions?

Question : (inaudible)

This is more of a common sense question. It 's like Rupa Goswami says, atyahara ccha. We don’t want to overeat.So where is the standard of how much one should eat? The scripture doesn’t say that one should eat 1.274 pounds per man you know, or 27% of the body weight you know for lunch and 15% for breakfast and… It doesn’t give any, it says one shouldn't eat more, one shouldn't eat less. And Srila Prabhupad said that the actual thing is that as much as one can work, he should eat. If you eat a lot , then you should work more. If you work as much as you are eating, then there is no difficulty. If you have a better tape recorder but you are actually using it to record Krishna’s discourses and that is being reproduced and utilized then it is worth it, than if you just have an expensive tape recorder but is not really utilized, then it is over-endeavor. The whole thing is depending on the total time, place and circumstance in every respect. It is not that there is a cut and dry. What's a good tape recorder for Chicago, in South America they would consider to be extreme luxury, inconceivable, ridiculous kind of thing may be, because there, the economy is much less advanced. And in India a person would bloop over that tape recorder (if he is a weak devotee), just to get it, because it is so luxurious. So in different places there is different situations. Therefore one has to have a spiritual master, one has to have association of senior sadhus or vaishnavas, that if one has doubt, he confirms that this is necessary, this is necessary for my service, then they, spiritual master or a sadhus, they say, yes. So reasonable. And if we're very fixed that I will be independent, that I will do, I will just make my own standard, then they we're responsible. If we do too much, if we are wasteful, then Krishna will hold us responsible. But if we take the advice of senior vaishnavas, then we are not responsible, you see, we are following the higher authorities or following the vaishnavas. So why should we take an unnecessary risk? Therefore we always consult with vaishnavas on anything where there is any doubt. Even there may not be any doubt in our mind so much, but we may also consult, just to be sure, just to show a proper procedure. And if we are very rigid to do everything independently, then we are responsible and therefore if we misuse the funds that Krishna gives us ; if we overeat, over-accumulate, then Krishna will hold us responsible. Prabhupad would say, "Why should we take unnecessary risk? What is the need?"

If everybody in the temple has the $ 2000 Nakamichi, then the temple probably would not be able to offer any flowers to Krishna. Maybe one temple needs one good recorder and then everyone else makes copies. So I mean things have… That's why there is temple presidents and why there's regional secretaries and GBCs and senior devotees to try to create a balance. But it's a common sense question.

One shouldn’t take more than necessary. And if Krishna's provided this, no offence in taking what is necessary. Whatever one takes material facility, if that facility is used for Krishna, then it elevates one, but if it is not used for Krishna, then it becomes a burden. So there is no harm in having material facilities except that if one is not able to use all those facilities for Krishna, then it simply becomes a burden. It becomes impediment. Everything we take material we should engage it, that is why a brahmachari, Prabhupad said, his life is very perfect. He doesn’t have to worry about so many things. He has his cloth, has his place , his sleeping gear and where he wants to sleep and he does his service. Mind is clear. No difficulty. And now you want to add him to a tape recorder and a watch. It shouldn’t be too over-riding burden. Of course when one enters married life, he has got so many things to worry about. But if everything is kept Krishna conscious, then he can overcome all these things. The brahmachari life is a very free life. So the system is that whatever you have, that should be engaged. So it's easy if you don't have so many things to engage. That makes it simple. And if you have more things, then you have to engage them, otherwise you become entangled. Any other questions?

Of course, the goal of Krishna consciousness is to develop our friendship with Krishna and the spiritual master. One needs the association of vaishnavas, because we're born in the material world, our tendency is to always see the faults in others, and to always see the difficulties in a situation. But actually the difficulties in situations, Prabhupada said that failure is the stepping stone to success. There is a verse in the Vedas says, chandan chandan punarapi jananam, kanchan kanchan punarapi puni, kanchanam kancha varnam that the more that one burns the goald the more lustrous it becomes. The more that one rubs the sandalwood, the more the scent comes out and the more one beats the sugar cane, the more that the sweet juice comes out. So all these, you know, grinding and beating, and burning, these are all like violent activities. I mean they're very violent activities ; yet when applied to sandalwood, sugar cane, and gold, they actually produce something wonderful, you see. So material life, we are always looking for something very free from all type of disturbances. But actually in Krishna consciousness obstacles can produce a refinement of our devotional service, if we actually learn to depend on Krishna.

Transcribed by : Jayaraseshwari devi dasi 3 February, 2014

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